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BX  9211  .N48  B82  1909 
Knapp,  Shepherd,  1873- 
A  history  of  the  Brick 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the 


tihrary  of  ^he  l:heolo0ical  ^tminaxy 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 


•a^D- 


PURCHASED  BY  THE 

MRS.  ROBERT  LENOX  KENNEDY 

CHURCH  HISTORY  FUND 


A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


THE   BRICK  CHURCH  ON  BEEKMAN  STREET 
From  an  oil  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  church 


A  HISTORY 

OF  THE 


■si! 


1*     OCT  5  1909     >■ 


BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


BY 


SHEPHERD  KNAPP 


"  Inquire,  I  pray  thee,  of  the  former  age,  and  prepare  thyself  to 
the  search  of  their  fathers.  .  .  .  Shall  not  they  teach  thee 
and  tell  thee,  and  utter  words  out  of  their  heart?  " — Job  8 : 8, 10. 

"The  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  has,  from  its  origin,  occupied 
a  position  suflacienty  prominent  to  justify,  even  in  the  eyes  of 
the  men  of  the  world,  some  historical  notices,  which  may  per- 
haps be  viewed  with  interest  by  others  as  well  as  ourselves." 
—Gardiner   Spbinq,    1856,    Brick  Church    Memorial,  p.  7. 


NEW  YORK 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE   TRUSTEES   OF 

THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
1909 


Copyright,  1909, 

bt  the   corporation  of 

THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


^0 

MY  MOTHER  AND  FATHER, 

TO  WHOM  I  OWE 

MY    HERITAGE    IN    THE    OLD    BRICK    CHURCH, 

AND  ALL  MY  LARGEST  OPPORTUNITIES 

AND    WORTHIEST    AMBITIONS, 

IN     LOVING     MEMORY 

I      DEDICATE 

THIS  BOOK. 


PREFACE 

This  history  has  been  prepared,  at  the  request  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church,  in  the  hope  that  it 
will  interest  the  large  number  of  people  who  are 
bound  to  the  church  by  ties  of  the  past  or  of  the 
present,  and  those,  also,  whose  interest  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church  at  large  will  incline  them  to 
an  examination  of  any  important  chapter  of  it. 

The  author  wishes,  especially,  that  the  volume 
might  come  into  the  hands  of  some  of  the  young 
men  who  are  about  to  choose  among  the  various 
professions  for  their  life-work,  for  it  seems  to  him 
that  a  history  like  that  of  the  Brick  Church  sets  forth 
in  an  emphatic  way  the  great  opportunity  which  the 
Christian  ministry  offers  in  our  time.  The  author 
has  himself  been  so  much  impressed,  as  the  facts  of 
the  history  have  unfolded  before  him,  by  the  variety 
of  interests  with  which  he  has  been  called  upon  to 
deal,  the  breadth  of  scope  which  the  history  has  pre- 
sented, and  the  close  relation  which  it  has  disclosed, 
especially  in  the  record  of  later  years,  between  the 
specific  work  of  the  minister  and  some  of  the  prob- 
lems which  most  perplex  our  time  and  whose  solu- 
tion will  most  profoundly  affect  the  future  of  our 
country  and  of  the  world,  that  he  cannot  doubt  but 
others  will  be  impressed  in  the  same  way. 

A  word  should  be  said  by  way  of  explaining  the 


viil  PREFACE 

very  brief  account,  given  in  the  following  pages,  of 
the  early  years  of  Presbyterianism  in  New  York 
City.  Although  technically  the  Brick  Church  rep- 
resents, not  an  offshoot  from  the  original  Presbyterian 
Church  of  New  York,  but  an  integral  part  of  it  as  it 
existed  until  the  division  in  1809,  so  that  the  whole 
history  from  1706,  in  full  detail,  might  without  im- 
propriety be  included  in  the  present  work,  it  has 
seemed  proper  to  take  as  a  beginning  the  building  of 
the  first  "Brick  Church,"  and  to  leave  the  history  of 
the  earlier  years  to  be  recorded  more  fully  by  some 
future  historian  of  "The  Old  First  Church,"  which, 
at  the  division,  was  created  out  of  the  congregation 
worshipping  in  the  older  edifice  on  Wall  Street. 

It  will  be  noticed  by  the  reader  as  he  proceeds, 
that  there  are  many  quotations  for  which  no  refer- 
ences are  given.  These  are  drawn  from  the  manu- 
script minutes  of  the  church,  and  it  has  seemed  un- 
necessary to  burden  the  pages  with  references  to 
sources  not  accessible  to  the  public,  especially  as  the 
date  of  the  event  or  declaration  will  serve  to  mark  its 
place  in  the  records  almost  as  well  as  would  an  indi- 
cation of  the  volume  and  the  page. 

A  key  to  the  abbreviated  titles  of  the  works  most 
frequently  quoted  in  the  notes  will  be  found  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Bibliography.*  A  Chronology  is 
given  in  an  Appendix. f  The  personal  records  of 
the  church  from  1809  to  the  present,  including 
marriages,  baptisms,  members,  etc. — some  ten  thou- 
sand entries  in  all — are  published  in  alphabetical 
order  in  a  companion  volume. 

*  Page  497. 

t  Appendix  A,  p.  513. 


PREFACE  ix 

The  author  is  glad  of  this  opportunity  to  acknowl- 
edge the  invariable  kindness  of  the  persons  to  whom 
he  has  turned  for  help  in  the  preparation  of  this  vol- 
ume, and  especially  of  Mr.  Charles  H.  Olmstead, 
clerk  of  session  of  the  Old  First  Church,  for  cour- 
teous permission  to  use  the  ancient  records  in  his 
custody;  of  Mr.  Daniel  Parish,  Jr.,  the  Rev.  G. 
McPherson  Hunter,  the  Rev.  Theo.  F.  Burnham 
and  Mr.  Austin  B.  Keep,  all  of  whom  have  opened 
to  the  author  valuable  sources  of  information;  of  the 
officers  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  for  per- 
mission to  copy  documents  and  pictures;  of  the 
Rev.  George  S.  Webster,  D.D.,  for  placing  at  the 
author's  disposal  a  large  amount  of  material  col- 
lected during  many  years,  relating  to  the  old  and  new 
churches  of  the  Covenant;  of  Mrs.  Samuel  B.  Jones, 
whose  love  for  the  Brick  Church  has  led  her  to  save 
for  many  years  every  allusion  to  it  in  the  magazines 
and  the  daily  press,  and  whose  kindness  in  giving  her 
whole  collection  to  be  incorporated  into  the  Brick 
Church  Historical  Scrap-book  has  provided  many 
important  side-lights  upon  the  events  of  the  last  three 
pastorates;  and  of  the  present  clerk  of  the  session, 
Mr.  Hamilton  Odell,  who  placed  in  the  author's 
hands  the  notes  made  some  years  ago  with  a  view 
to  preparing  a  historical  sketch  of  the  church,  and 
whose  monumental  service  in  keeping,  with  the  ut- 
most accuracy,  and  in  his  own  exquisite  hand,  the 
session  records  for  almost  forty-five  years,  places  not 
only  the  present  author  but  the  whole  church  under 
a  great  obligation.  Nor  ought  gratitude  to  remain 
unexpressed  for  the  services  performed  by  those  who 
now  rest  from  their  labors.     Among  the  men  who. 


X  PREFACE 

in  the  past,  have  patiently  kept  those  records,  with- 
out which  no  detailed  history  of  the  Brick  Church 
could  have  been  written,  ought  to  be  mentioned  Mr. 
Daniel  J.  Holden,  who  acted  as  clerk  of  the  trustees 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Egleston, 
who  served  in  the  same  capacity  for  full  that  time, 
while  old  Mr.  Horace  Holden,  faithful  in  all  he  under- 
took, was  clerk  of  session  for  almost  twice  as  long. 

The  author  takes  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  recording 
that  his  mother,  who  lived  to  read  only  the  first  few 
pages  of  this  history,  collected  for  him  some  of  the 
most  interesting  material  included  in  the  two  chap- 
ters which  deal  with  the  period  immediately  before 
and  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Shepherd  Knapp. 
New  York,  March  IQth,  1908. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PART  ONE:   IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME 


chapter  i 
Wall  Street  Presbyterians:   1706-1765 


The  New  Minister. — Eariy  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  New  York  City. — Condition  in  1765. — John  Rodgers. — 
His  Youth. — His  Early  Ministry. — Call  to  New  York. — 
A  Revival  Follows. — The  Wall  Street  Church  Inadequate. 


chapter  II 

The  New  Church:   1765-1767 17 

Petition  for  Land.— New  York  in  1765.— "The  Angular  Lot." 
— The  Grant. — Raising  the  Building  Fund. — Appearance 
of  the  New  IChurch. — Its  Name. — Right  of  Incorporation 
Denied. — The  Collegiate  Arrangement. — The  New  Church 
Congregation. 

chapter    III 

Colonial  Days:   1768-1774 33 

Dedication  Service. — The  Church's  Debt  to  Mr.  Rodgers. — His 
Fitness  for  Leadership. — His  Doctor's  Degree. — The 
Church  Prospers. — Departments  of  Work. — The  Pastor: 
Public  Worship  and  Visitation. — The  Session:  Discipline. 
— The  Deacons  and  the  Parish  Poor. — The  Church's  Early 
Maturity. 

chapter  iv 

"The  Presbyterian  Junto":   1752-1775 43 

Contemporary  Political  Affairs. — Seldom  Alluded  to  in  Session 
Minutes. — Attitude  of  New  York  Presbyterians. — Of  Dr. 
Rodgers. — Revolutionary  Record  of  the  Members  to  be 
Included  in  the  Church's  History. — Presbyterians  in  the 
Whig  Club,  1752.— "The  Triumvirate":  Livingston, 
Smith,  and  Scott. — Alexander  McDougal. — Presbyterian 
Leaders  in  the  "Sons  of  Liberty." — Events  on  the  Com- 
mon, 1765-1770. — McDougal's  Arrest. — Presbyterians  Out- 
voted in  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one,  1774. 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   V 

PAGE 

In  the  Revolution:   1775-1783 58 

News  of  Lexington. — Presbyterians  to  the  Fore. — Scott  Backs 
up  Marinus  Willett. — Pastoral  Letter  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, May,  1775. — Military  Operations.— Colonel  Lasher. 
— Scott  Describes  the  City  in  November.— Church  Life 
Broken  Up. — Dr.  Rodgers  Meets  General  Washington,  April, 
1776. — The  Exodus. — Chaplain  Rodgers. — Military  and 
Civil  Service  of  the  New  York  Presbyterians  during  the 
War. — ^The  Church  in  the  Hands  of  the  British. — Used  as 
a  Hospital. — Described,  1777. — Proposal  to  Restore  it  to 
Religious  Uses,  1780. — Its  Condition  at  the  End  of  the 
War. 

chapter  vi 

Restoration  and  Progress:   1783-1808 73 

Pastor  and  People  Return,  November,  1783. — Courteous  Offer 
of  Old  Trinity. — Dr.  Rodgers'  Thanksgiving  Sermon  in  St. 
George's. — The  Church  Restored  and  Opened,  1784. — Its 
Appearance  in  1787. — Ground  Rent  Reduced. — Gifts. — 
Associate  Pastors:  Wilson,  McKnight,  and  Miller. — Rutgers 
Street  Church  Founded,  1798.— Care  of  the  Parish  Poor.— 
Other  Benevolences. — Support  of  the  Church. — The  Charity 
School.— Dr.  Miller  on  the  Plague  of  1798. 


chapter  vii 
The  Senior  Pastor  ....      95 

Controlling  Influence  of  Dr.  Rodgers. — His  Appearance  and 
Manners. — His  Character. — His  Preaching. — His  Industry 
as  a  Pastor. — His  Old  Age. 


chapter  VIII 

The  Separation:   1809 103 

End  of  the  Collegiate  Arrangement  Foreshadowed,  1784. — The 
Change  Firmly  Opposed.— Favored  by  Associate  Pastors. 
— Significant  Action  regarding  Rutgers  Street  Church, 
1805. — A  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church  Created  Indepen- 
dent, 1807. — Effect  of  the  Object  Lesson. — Steps  toward 
Separation. — Plan  Proposed. — Dr.  McKnight  Angry:  Re- 
signs.— Plan  of  Separation  Adopted,  1809. — First  Brick 
Church  Session. — The  Deacons. — The  Board  of  Trustees. 


CONTENTS  xiii 


PART  TWO:   THE  LONG  PASTORATE 


CHAPTER   IX 

PAGE 

The  Call  of  Gardiner  Spring:   1809-1810  ....     117 

Discouraging  State  of  the  Church. — Vain  Attempts  to  Secure 
a  Pastor. — A  Humble  Appeal  for  Help. — Mr.  Spring 
Heard. — He  Preaches  in  the  Brick  Church. — Immediately 
Called. — Accepts. — Presbytery  Doubts  His  Orthodoxy. — 
He  is  Installed,  1810. — His  Ancestry. — His  Boyhood. — 
At  Yale  College. — Studies  Law. — In  Bermuda. — His  Mar- 
riage.— Is  Admitted  to  the  Bar. — Decides  to  Become  a 
Preacher  of  the  Gospel. — At  Andover. — To  New  York. 


chapter  x 

The  Temporalities:   1810-1850 131 

History  of  the  Forty  Years  to  be  Told  in  Five  Chapters. — First, 
An  Account  of  Lands,  Buildings,  and  Finances. — The 
Church. — Interior. — Pulpit. — Pews. — "  Holiness  to  the 
Lord." — Lighting  and  Heating. — Exterier. — The  Neigh- 
borhood.— Fence. — Steeple. — Fire  of  1811. — The  Lecture- 
room,  1810.— The  New  Chapel,  1832.— Churchyard.— 
Cemetery  on  Houston  Street. — ^The  Church's  Income. — 
Purchase  and  Rental  of  Pews. — Treasurer's  Reports. — Pew- 
rents  Raised,  1817. — Pastor's  Salary  Increased,  1819. — Pro- 
posal to  Reduce  it  Again,  1824. — Crisis  in  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, 1825.— Financial  Condition  in  1826.— In  1839.— 
Subscription  for  Paying  Church  Debt,  1841. — Treasurer 
again  Reports  a  Balance,  1850. 


chapter  xi 
Pastor  and  Theologian:   1810-1850  148 

Study  of  Church's  Inner  Life. — Gardiner  Spring  Sole  Pastor 
throughout  the  Period. — Death  of  Dr.  Rodgers,  1811. — 
Mr.  Spring's  Studies. — His  Habits  of  Industry. — Methods 
of  Sermon-writing. — His  Love  of  the  Work. — His  Lofty 
Purpose.  —  Depression.  —  111  Health.  —  Presbytery  Still 
Doubts  His  Orthodoxy. — Material  for  Dispute. — Mr. 
Spring's  Attitude  Toward  Hopkinsianism  and  Its  Repre- 
sentatives.— His  Freedom  from  Intolerance. — But  Es- 
pecially within  the  Limits  of  Calvinism. — Essays,  1813. — 
Their  Practical  Character. — Sermons  in  Series. — First 
Visit  to  Europe,  1822.— Cholera  Epidemic,  1832.— Second 
Visit  to  Europe,  1835. — Farewell  Letter  from  the  Church. 
—His  Attitude  in  the  New  School  Controversy,  1837. — 
His  Publications. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   XII 

PAGE 

Religion  and  Morals:   1810-1850 170 

Difficulty  of  Ascertaining  Spiritual  Conditions  in  a  Past  Age. — 
Services  and  Meetings. — In  the  Old  White  Lecture-room. 
— The  Lecture. — The  Prayer-meeting. — The  Inquiry  Meet- 
ing.— The  Quarterly  Meeting. — Admission  to  Membership. 
— Sunday  Services. — Sacraments. — Music. — The  Chorister. 
— Singing  -  school. — Musical  Society. — Concerts. — Begin- 
ning of  a  Choir,  1822. — "The  Asaph  Association." — In- 
strumental Music. — Periods  of  Religious  Awakening. — 
Summer  of  1815. — "Something  must  be  Done." — Revival 
Methods. — Visitation  by  Pastor  and  Elders. — Discipline. — 
Method  of  Procedure. — Penalties  Imposed. — Offences: 
against  Religion;  against  Morals. — Amusements. — Value 
of  Discipline. — The  Good  and  Faithful  Members. — Mem- 
orable Individuals. 


chapter  xiii 

The  Schools:   1810-1850 203 

Sale  of  the  Charity  School  Building. — Seabury  Ely  Employed. 
— The  Lessons. — Support  of  the  School. — State  Aid. — 
The  Lot  on  Augustus  Street. — It  is  Forfeited. — Condition  o 
School  in  1814. — Rules. — Children  Sent  to  Free  School, 
1816. — Ryan  Legacy,  1829. — Secularizing  of  Schools  in 
New  York. — Brick  Church  Abandons  Secular  Education. 
— Sunday-schools. — Their  Early  History  in  New  York. — 
Brick  Church  Opens  Two  Schools,  1816. — Their  Purpose. 
—First  Sixteen  Years.— In  1832.— The  Teachers.— Con- 
stitution of  1833. — Character  of  Schools  from  this  Time.— 
Sessions. — Lessons. — Library. — Anniversary. — An  Outing 
Proposed. — The  Session  of  the  Church  Assumes  the  Man- 
agement, 1840. — Success  of  the  Change. — Old  Method 
Resumed  by  1846. — Rewards. — Bringing  in  the  Poor  Chil- 
dren Once  More. — Benevolences. — The  Banner  from 
Illinois. 


chapter  xiv 

Missions  and  Benevolence:    1810-1850 231 

Collections  for  Poor  and  for  Charity  School. — Effect  of  Business 
Depression. — Annual  Missionary  Collection. — Occasional 
Offerings  Recommence,  1818. — Greatly  Increase. — Multi- 
plicity of  Appeals. — Systematic  Benevolence  Substituted, 
1838. — Five  Annual  Collections. — Success  of  the  Change. — 
Part  Played  by  Brick  Church  in  Benevolent  Organizations. 
— American  Bible  Society.— Movement  for  Sunday  Observ- 
ance.— Young  Men's  Missionary  Societies. — American 
Home  Missionary  Society.- — Relation  of  Dr.  Spring  to  the 
American  Board. — The  Presbyterian  Boards:  Brick 
Church  Transfers  Allegiance  to  Them. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XV 


\V 


The  Last  Years  on  Beekman  Street:    1850-1856     .     251 

Changed  Character  of  Neighborhood.— In  1828.— In  1839.— 
Removal  then  Contemplated. — Second  Attempt,  1847. — 
Crisis,  1850. — Meetings  not  Supported.— Lecture  Moved 
Uptown.— Condition  in  1856.— Meanwhile  Colleague- 
Church  Uptown  Proposed,  1852.— Difficulties  in  Selling.— 
Restrictions  in  the  Grant.— Rights  of  Vault-  and  Pew- 
owners.— Supreme  Court  Order  Obtained,  1853.— Pro- 
posal of  Auction  by  Church  and  City.— Attempt  to  Sell 
to  United  States,  1854-1855.— Offers  from  Individuals.— 
The  Sale:  Subject  to  Auction,  1856.— Church  Held  To- 
gether by  Devotion  to  Dr.  Spring.- His  Salary  Raised, 
1854. — Last  Downtown  Service. 


chapter   XVI 

The  Move  to  Murray  Hill:   1855-1858 277 

New  York  in  1855.— Brick  Church  almost  Buys  on  Thirtieth 
Street.— Twenty-third  Street  Considered.— A  Few  Urge 
Murray  Hill.— Present  Property  Bought.— Its  Former 
Occupant.— Condition  of  the  Neighborhood.— Plans  for 
Building.— Points  of  Agreement.— Points  in  Dispute. — 
The  Finished  Church.— Exterior.— Interior.— Reminders  of 
the  Downtown  Building.— Pew-rights  Adjusted.— The 
Dedication. 


chapter  XVII 

Work  Resumed:   the  Civil  War:   1858-1863     .     .     . 

Sunday-school  had  Been  Reestablished  in  1856.— Neighbor- 
hood Visited.— Need  of  Ministerial  Assistance.— Dr 
Spring's  Proposal,  1855.— Dr.  Hoge  Called,  1859.— His 
Difficult  Position. — His  Reception.— His  Popularity. — 
The  Church  Prospers. — Increased  Benevolence. — Young 
Men's  Association,  I860.— The  Eve  of  the  War.— Dr. 
Hoge's  Politics.— His  Trying  Situation.— Feelings  of  the 
Congregation.— Dr.  Hoge's  Plan  of  Action.— Causes  of  its 
Failure.— Prayers  for  the  Confederate  States.— Dr.  Hoge 
Resigns,  1861.— Hard  Feeling.— Later  Views.— His  Fare- 
well Sermon.— His  Return  to  Virginia  and  His  Death.— 
Dr.  Spring's  Attitude  toward  the  South.— Regards  Seces- 
sion as  a  Crime.— "The  Spring  Resolutions,"  1861.— The 
Church's  Loyalty.- Generous  Sentiments.- Dr.  Shedd 
Called,  1862.— Dr.  Spring  Failing.— Regard  for  Dr.  Shedd, 
—He  Resigns,  1863. 


293 


xvi  CONTENTS 


PART  THREE:   THE  MODERN  PERIOD 

CHAPTER   XVIII 

PAGE 

"The  Old  Order  Changeth":   1864-1875    ....     315 

James  O.  Murray  Called,  1864. — Dr.  Spring  is  Retired  from 
Active  Service. — His  Part  in  the  Reunion  of  Old  and  New 
Schools,  1869.— His  Closing  Years.— His  Death,  1873.— 
Mr.  Murray's  Early  Life. — At  Andover. — His  Character 
and  Attainments. — His  Interest  in  the  Church  Music. — 
A  Quartette  Introduced,  1866. — "The  Sacrifice  of  Praise," 
1869. — Other  Changes  in  Worship. — In  Number  of  Serv- 
ices.— The  Employment  Society:  Its  Programme  and 
Achievements. — The  Children's  Society. — Benevolences 
Reorganized. — Weekly  Giving  Tried,  1871. — The  Spirit  of 
the  Church's  Benevolence. — Statistics. 

CHAPTER  XIX 

A  Wider  Horizon:  1857-1875 338 

Origin  of  the  West  Side  Mission,  1857. — Beginnings  of  the  Mis- 
sion Church,  1859. — Support  of  the  Work. — Expansion. — 
The  Brick  Church  Assumes  Control,  1862.— The  Lord's 
Supper  at  the  Mission,  1865. — Subscriptions  for  a  Building, 
1866. — Chapel  Dedicated,  1867. — Christmas  Festival. — 
Mr.  Lampe. — Work  of  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons. — Dr.  Murray 
Resigns,  1875. — Earlier  Appreciation  of  His  Ministry. — 
Reasons  for  His  Departure. — Letter  from  the  Children. — 
Lasting  Results  of  His  Pastorate. 

CHAPTER  XX 

A  Minister  from  Abroad:   1876-1882 356 

The  Parsonage,  1876.— Llewelyn  D.  Bevan  called,  1876.— His 
Career  in  London. — His  Expectations. — American  Clergy- 
men in  Public  Affairs. — Miscalculations. — Pastoral  Letter 
of  1878.— Work  Among  the  Children.— The  Young  Men's 
Society. — The  Second  Sunday  Service. — Pastoral  Letter 
of  1879. — Debt-raising. — Growth  of  the  Mission. — Prog- 
ress toward  Self-support. — Dr.  Bevan  Resigns,  1882. — 
Subsequent  Relations. 

chapter  xxi 
Rejuvenated:   1882-1893       375 

Call  of  Henry  van  Dyke,  1882. — His  Early  Life.— Condition  of 
the  Church. — Revising  the  Roll. ^Making  the  Church  At- 
tractive.— The  Preacher. — The  Music. — Renovation  of  the 
Church  Projected. — Death  of  Governor  Morgan,  1883. — 
The  Interior  of  the  Church  Transformed,  1883.— The  Church 


CONTENTS 


xvii 


Renews  its  Youth. — Fear  of  Losing  Dr.  van  Dyke,  1885. — 
His  Conception  of  the  Church's  Mission. — "Affectionate 
and  Unanimous  "  Letter  of  the  Session. — A  Second  Resig- 
nation Averted,  1893. — Emphatic  Resolutions. — Simulta- 
neous Enterprises:  Evangelistic  and  Financial,  1885. — 
Stated  Services  of  the  Church. — Sermons. — Worship.— 
Hospitality  to  Strangers. — The  Wednesday  Evening  Serv- 
ice.— Practical  Activities.— The  Sunday-school. — Added 
Organizations. — Benevolence. — The  Sick  Children's  Aid 
Society  and  the  Young  People's  Guild. — The  Pastor's  Aid 
Society. — Independence  of  the  Chapel  Desired. — Prob- 
lems Involved. — Christ  Church  Organized,  1888. — Wider 
Influence  of  the  Brick  Church  Pastor. — His  Ideal  Realized. 
— Need  of  Endowment. 


chapter  xxii 

The  Church  of  the  Covenant:  1862-1894  .     .     .     . 

The  Beginning,  I860.— War  Time.— The  Church  Organized, 
1862.— The  Building  Erected,  1864-1865.— Character  of 
the  Church. — The  Mission  Sunday-school  Opened,  1866. — 
Its  First  Quarters. — Its  Spirit  and  Methods. — It  is  Pro- 
vided with  a  Building,  1871. — Dr.  Prentiss  Resigns,  1873. 
— His  Character  and  Ministry. — Dr.  Vincent  Succeeds. — 
The  Congregation  in  His  Time. — The  First  Chapel  Pastor, 
1875.— The  Ideal  of  Self-support.- Dr.  Mcllvaine  Called, 
1888. — Chapel  Pastor  Made  Associate,  1890. — Success  of 
this  Arrangement. — Affairs  of  the  Church. — The  Prayer- 
meetings. — Other  Activities. — Strength  and  Weakness. — 
The  Problem. — Moving  Population  of  New  York. — A  Pos- 
sible Expedient. — A  Better  Plan  Provided. — Contemporary 
Situation  in  the  Brick  Church. — Union  Proposed,  1893. — 
"A  Corn  of  Wheat." 


405 


chapter  XXIII 

Union  and  Affiliation:   1893-1900 432 

The  Covenant's  Proposal,  1893. — Chapel  Becomes  a  Church, 
1893. — Legislative  Action  Required. — The  Agreement, 
1894. — Legislature  and  Presbytery  Act,  1894. — Success  of 
the  LTnion. — Double  Pastorate  Unsatisfactory. — Dr.  Mc- 
llvaine Withdraws,  1896.— The  Affiliated  Churches.— 
Prosperity  of  the  Covenant. — A  Home  Church. — Troubles 
of  Christ  Church. — Better  Times. — The  Sunday-school. — 
Social  and  Industrial  Work. — The  Boys'  Club. — Mr.  Farr, 
1897.— The  Church  House,  1898.— Prosperity  of  the  Brick 
Church. — Benevolence. — Congregations. — Young  Men. — 
Devotion  to  Dr.  van  Dyke. — He  Accepts  a  Call  to  Prince- 
ton.— Aids  in  Finding  His  Successor. — The  Debt  of  the 
Churqh  to  Hirn. 


xviii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXrV 

PAGE 

A  Golden  Year:   1900-1901 455 

Dr.  Babcock  Called,  1899. — Reasons  for  His  Acceptance. — His 
Early  Life.^ — In  Baltimore. — First  Sunday  in  New  York, 
1900. — First  Impressions. — His  Message. — In  the  Pulpit. — 
The  Man. — Personal  Service. — A  Busy  Day. — Plans  for 
Christ  Church. — Relation  to  Affiliated  Churches. — Mr. 
Farr  at  Christ  Church,  1901. — The  Men's  Association. — 
Close  of  the  Year. — Journey  to  Palestine. — Letters  and 
Remembrances. — Dr.  Babcock's  Death. — Its  Effect. — 
Memorial  Gift. — The  Session  Minute. 


chapter  xxv 
The  Church  of  the  Present:   1902-1908     ....    474 

A  Friend  in  Need.— Call  of  Dr.  Richards,  1902.— His  Work  in 
Plainfield. — He  Accepts  the  Call. — Likeness  to  His  Prede- 
cessors. —  Individuality.  —  His  Preaching.  —  The  Open 
Church. — New  Services. — Success  of  these  Experiments. — 
The  Music. — Work  for  Children. — In  the  Sunday-school. — 
In  the  Church  of  the  Covenant. — At  Christ  Church. — New 
Buildings  Planned. — Corner-stone  Laid,  1904. — Buildings 
Opened,  1905. — Description  of  Them. — Effect  upon  the 
Work. — The  Jesup  Legacy. — A  Review  of  the  History. — 
Changes  Without. — "Is  the  Church  Ahve?" — Comparison 
of  1767  with  1908.— The  Result  a  Ground  for  Thankfulness 
and  Hope. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.     Key  to  Abbreviations  of  Titles  497 

II.     General  Authorities 497 

III.  Books  Relating  to  the  Brick  Church    .     .     .  499 

IV.  Pamphlets  Relating  to  the  Brick  Church     .  502 
V.    Manuscript  Sources 509 

APPENDICES 

A.  Chronology 513 

B.  Ministers 516 

C.  Elders , 517 

D.  Clerks  of  Session    .     .     .     , 519 

E.  Deacons 520 


CONTENTS  xix 

PAGE 

F.  Trustees 522 

G.  Presidents  of  the  Board  of  Trustees     .     .     .  524 

H.     Treasurers 525 

I.      Clerks  of  the  Board  of  Trustees       ....  526 

J.      Superintendents  of  the  Sunday-school  .     .     .  527 

K.     Sextons 528 

L.     Ministers  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant    .  529 

M.    Elders  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant    .     .  530 

N.     Deacons  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant       .  531 

O.     Trustees  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant     .  532 
P.      Original    Members    of    the    Church    of    the 

Covenant 533 

Q.     Ministers  of  Brick  Church  Mission  and  Christ 

Church 535 

R.     Ministers  of  Covenant  Chapel  and  the  Present 

Church  of  the  Covenant 536 

S.      Pew-owners  of  1853 537 

T.     Form  for  Admission  of  Members,  1829     ...  539 

U.     Order  of  Baptismal  Service,  1866 542 

V.      Order  of  Communion  Service,  1875      ....  543 

W.     Constitution  of  Sunday-school,  1833  ....  545 
X.     Supreme    Court    Order,    Regarding    Sale    of 

Beekman  Street  Property 547 

Y.     Rules  for  Government  of  Christ  Church  Me- 
morial Buildings,  1905 548 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Brick  Church  on  BeeJcman  Street Frontispiece 

OPPOSITE  PAGE 

The  old  Wall  Street  Church 10 

Plan  of  Neic  York  City,  1767 20 

The  Brick  Church  from  the  north-east  in  1800,  and  view  from 

same  point  in  1908 26 

Brick  Church  relics 36 

Ground-plan  of  the  Brick  Church  on  Beekman  Street    ....  76 

John  Rodgers 98 

Facsimile  of  a  letter  of  Dr.  Rodgers 102 

Facsimile  of  the  Call  of  Gardiner  Spring 122 

Ground-plan  of  Brick  Church,  1822 132 

"  Holiness  to  the  Lord,"  and  interior  of  Brick  Church  on  Beek- 
man Street,  1856 134 

The  Brick  Church  and  Chapel  on  Beekman  Street 140 

Gardiner  Spring  in  his  youth 148 

Gardiner  Spring  in  his  old  age 166 

Plan  of  burial  vaults  on  Beekman  Street 262 

The  Brick  Church  on  Murray  Hill 278 

Interior  of  the  present  Brick  Church,  1858 286 

William  J.  Hoge 296 

William  G.  T.  Shedd 310 

Last  New  School  Assembly,  outside  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  316 

James  O.  Murray 320 

The  Brick  Church  Mission  Chapel 348 

Llewelyn  D.  Bevan 358 

xxi 


xxii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

OPPOSITE  PAGE 

Henry  van  Dyke,  1892 378 

Redecorated  interior  of  the  church 382 

East  end  of  the  interior,  1883 384 

The  sewing  school  in  the  S.  S.  Hall  on  West  Thirty-fifth  Street   .  394 

George  L.  Prentiss 406 

The  Church  of  the  Covenant 408 

Interior  of  the  Covenant  Chapel 414 

Marvin  R.  Vincent 416 

Interior  of  the  old  Church  of  the  Covenant 418 

James  H.  Mcllvaine 424 

George  S.  Webster 434 

The  present  Church  of  the  Covenant 444 

The  Murray  Kindergarten  and  the  Lincoln  Cadets        ....  450 

Henry  van  Dyke 452 

Present  interior  of  the  Brick  Church 454 

Malthie  D.  Bahcock 458 

James  M.  Farr 466 

Classes  in  hasket-weav)ing  and  carpentry         470 

Classes  in  kitchen  garden  and  cooking 472 

William  R.  Richards 478 

Choir  rehearsal  at  the  Covenant 482 

Children's  room  and  kitchen,  Christ  Church  Memorial  House     .  484 

Christ  Church  Memorial  Buildings 486 

Interior  of  the  present  Christ  Church 488 

Kindergarten  at  Church  House  door 490 

Bowling  alleys  and  library 492 


PART  I 
IN   THE    OLDEN   TIME 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  PRESBYTERIANS  ON  WALL 
STREET:  1706-1765 

"  And  from  thence  (we  came]  to  Philippi,  which  is  the  chief  city  of  that  part  of 
Macedonia,  and  a  colony:  and  we  were  in  that  city  abiding  certain  days." — The 
Acts  16  :  12. 

"  When  we  came  to  York,*  we  had  not  the  least  intention  or  design  of  preaching, 
but  stopped  at  York  purely  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  Governor,  which  we  did;  but 
being  afterward  called  and  invited  to  preach,  as  I  am  a  minister  of  the  gospel  I 
durst  not  deny  preaching,  nor  I  hope  I  never  shall,  where  it  is  wanting  and  desired." 
— Rev.  Francis  MAKEMiE.t  1707,  "Memoirs  of  John  Rodgers,"  p.  139,  note. 

ON  a  Sunday  morning  toward  the  end  of  the 
year  1765,  George  III.  being  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  Sir  Henry  Moore  being  Gov- 
ernor of  His  Majesty's  Province  of  New  York,  the 
people  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York  City  were  assembled  as  usual  in  their  place  of 
worship  on  Wall  Street,  waiting  for  the  service  to 
begin.  Their  new  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Rodgers, 
had  now  been  with  them  for  some  weeks,  so  that  the 
first  curiosity  regarding  him  was  beginning  to  sub- 
side, and  on  this  occasion  no  one  was  expecting  that 
anything  of  special  interest  would  occur,  except  that 
the  new  minister's  sermons  were  found  to  be  always 
interesting.  But  Mr.  Rodgers  had  barely  entered 
the  church  when  attention  was  riveted  upon  him,  for 
instead  of  proceeding  to  the  clerk's  desk  below  the 

*  New  York. 

t  The  first  minister  to  conduct  an  English  Presbyterian  service  in  New 
York  City. 

3 


4  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

pulpit,  and  there  ofTering  the  introductory  prayer, 
reading  the  Scriptures,  and  giving  out  the  jfirst 
Psalm,  as  had  been  the  custom  until  this  time,  the 
minister  was  seen  to  mount  to  his  pulpit  at  once  and 
begin  the  service  there. 

In  spite  of  the  severe  decorum  which  prevailed  in 
the  congregations  of  that  period,  some  slight  commo- 
tion was  evident — silk  dresses  faintly  rustled,  glances 
were  swiftly  exchanged, — for  this  matter  of  the 
proper  place  in  which  to  open  the  service  was  one 
that  had  long  been  a  subject  of  dispute.  The  major- 
ity of  the  congregation  clung  firmly  to  the  old  way, 
but  some  others  had  for  many  years  urged  this  very 
change,  which  Mr.  Rodgers,  without  consulting  a 
single  person,  whether  member  or  officer,  had  now 
suddenly  introduced. 

Was  it  possible  that  in  a  state  of  absent-minded- 
ness he  had  unintentionally  reverted  to  a  custom 
made  familiar  to  him  in  his  former  parish  ?  No,  the 
firmness  and  composure  with  which  he  met  the  evi- 
dent surprise  of  the  congregation  at  once  dispelled 
that  theory.  It  was  plain  that  what  he  had  done  he 
had  fully  intended  to  do,  and  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
during  the  rest  of  that  service  not  a  few  of  the  people 
were  guilty  of  a  certain  inattention,  through  reflect- 
ing upon  the  probable  consequences  of  Mr.  Rodgers' 
action.  Would  the  majority  of  the  members,  or  the 
session  whose  wishes  in  the  matter  had  not  even  been 
asked,  require  a  return  to  the  old  custom,  and  gently 
but  firmly  counsel  the  minister  to  act  in  a  less  head- 
strong manner  in  the  future .?  Such  a  result  seemed 
not  unlikely. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  nothing  of  the  sort  hap- 


ON  WALL  STREET  5 

pened.  The  subject  was  not  even  broached  in  ses- 
sion meeting,  and  the  majority  in  the  congregation 
could  find  no  one  inclined  to  voice  their  protest. 
Mr.  Rodgers,  in  short,  had  correctly  read  the  situa- 
tion. Regarding  with  distinct  disapproval  the  con- 
ducting of  the  service  from  two  places  (probably 
because  this  savored  of  conformity  to  the  Church  of 
England  usage) ,  but  perceiving  at  the  same  time  that 
to  stir  up  a  church  quarrel  on  such  a  matter  of  detail 
would  be  almost  unpardonable,  he  decided  that  the 
bold  method  was  the  safest,  and  cut  the  Gordian 
knot  at  a  stroke.  His  plan  succeeded.  There  was 
dissatisfaction,  of  course.  Some  leading  members 
privately  expressed  with  considerable  emphasis  their 
disapproval  of  what  Mr.  Rodgers  had  presumed  to 
do,  "  but  such  were  the  popularity  and  success  of  his 
ministrations,"  says  the  narrator  of  this  incident, 
*'and  such  his  influence  among  the  people,  that  the 
unpleasant  feelings  expressed  on  this  occasion  by 
these  individuals  were  but  little  regarded  by  the  body 
of  the  congregation,  and  soon  entirely  ceased  to  be 
manifested."* 

The  somewhat  picturesque  glimpse  which  this 
anecdote  gives  us  of  the  Wall  Street  minister  at  the 
beginning  of  his  New  York  pastorate,  introduces  us 
in  an  appropriate  way  to  the  history  of  what  is  now 
known  as  "The  Brick  Church,"  for  the  origin  of  that 
church  was  directly  connected  with  the  settlement  of 
Mr.  Rodgers  over  the  Wall  Street  congregation.  We 
have  but  to  follow  through  a  few  months  more  his 
work  among  the  New  York  Presbyterians,  in  order 
to  reach  the  definite  beginning  of  the  history  which  is 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  179  /. 


6  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

to  be  related  in  this  volume.  But  in  order  to  under- 
stand what  is  to  follow,  we  must  first  glance  back- 
ward for  a  moment  at  the  earlier  history  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  New  York  City  and  of  John 
Rodgers,  the  minister  who  was  to  guide  its  destinies 
for  nearly  half  a  century. 

Presbyterianism  in  New  York  began  in  1706  with 
the  gathering  in  private  houses  of  a  few  persons  who 
desired  to  worship  in  the  Presbyterian  manner.  In 
January  of  the  following  year  the  Rev.  Francis 
Makemie  passed  through  the  city  on  his  way  from 
Virginia  to  Boston,  and  at  the  request  of  the  few 
Presbyterians  preached  at  the  house  of  one  William 
Jackson  on  Pearl  Street.  Lord  Cornbury,  the  Gov- 
ernor, a  bigoted  High-churchman,  endeavored  by  the 
use  of  force  to  put  an  end  to  this  activity  of  dissent- 
ers, and  Mr.  Makemie  was  arrested  and  sent  to  jail. 
On  the  morrow  he  was  examined,  the  following  being 
a  portion  of  the  proceedings : 

*'Lord  Cornbury.  How  dare  you  take  upon  you 
to  preach  in  my  government  without  license  ? 

"Mr.  Makemie.  We  have  liberty  from  an  act  of 
Parliament,  made  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  which  gave  us  liberty,  with  which 
law  we  complied. 

"Lord  C.  None  shall  preach  in  my  government 
without  my  license. 

"Mr.  M.  If  the  law  of  liberty,  my  lord,  had  di- 
rected us  to  any  particular  persons  in  authority  for 
license,  we  would  readily  have  obtained  the  same; 
but  we  cannot  find  any  directions  in  said  act  of  Par- 
liament, therefore  we  could  not  take  any  notice 
thereof, 


ON  WALL  STREET  7 

**Lord  C.  That  law  does  not  extend  to  the  Ameri- 
can plantations,  but  only  to  England. 

"Mr.  M.  My  lord,  I  humbly  conceive  it  is  not  a 
limited  or  local  act ;  and  am  well  assured  it  extends  to 
other  plantations,  which  is  evident  from  certificates 
of  record  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  certifying  we 
have  complied  with  said  law. 

"Lord  C.  The  courts  which  have  qualified  these 
men  are  in  error,  and  I  will  check  them  for  it.  You 
shall  not  spread  your  'pernicious  doctrines  /?ere."* 

Mr.  Makemie,  who  was  kept  in  jail  for  nearly  two 
months,  was  at  length  tried  by  jury,  and,  to  the  cha- 
grin of  the  authorities,  acquitted.  Such  was  the  be- 
ginning of  New  York  Presbyterianism,  uncomforta- 
ble, but  on  the  whole,  not  inauspicious. 

After  this  there  was,  for  a  while,  no  settled  pastor, 
but  from  time  to  time  the  ministrations  of  some 
travelling  Presbyterian  clergyman  were  enjoyed, 
and  occasionally  services  were  held  in  the  Dutch 
church  on  Garden  Street  (now  Exchange  Place) ; 
but  there  was  little  enough  of  outward  permanence 
about  the  movement  until  1716,  when  the  Presby- 
terians called  the  Rev.  James  Anderson  to  settle  per- 
manently among  them. 

A  letter  written  by  Mr.  Anderson  to  Principal  Ster- 
ling of  Glasgow,  on  December  3d,  1717,  gives  us  an 
interesting  view  of  the  situation  at  that  time.  "This 
place,  the  city  of  New  York,  where  I  now  am,"  he 
says,  "is  a  place  of  considerable  moment,  and  very 
populous,  consisting,  as  I  am  informed,  of  about 
three  thousand  families  or  householders.  It  is  a 
place  of  as  great  trade  or  business  (if  not  more  now) 

*  Quoted  in  "The  Presbyterian  Magazine"  for  January,  1851,  p.  30. 


8  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

as  any  in  America.  In  it  are  two  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  England,  two  Dutch  ministers,  one  French 
minister,  a  Lutheran  minister,  an  Anabaptist,  and 
also  a  Quaker  meeting.  .  .  .  Endeavors  were  used 
again  and  again  by  the  famous  Mr.  Francis  Makemie, 
Mr.  McNish,  and  others  toward  the  settlement  of  a 
Scots  church  in  this  city,  but  by  the  arbitrary  man- 
agement and  influence  of  a  wicked  high-flying  gov- 
ernor, who  preceded  his  excellency  Brigadier  Hunt- 
er, our  present  governor  (may  the  Lord  bless  and  long 
preserve  him),  that  business  has  been  hitherto  im- 
peded, and  could  never  be  brought  in  a  likely  way 
to  bear. 

"The  last  summer,  I,  being  providentially  here, 
and  being  obliged  to  stay  here  about  business  the 
matter  of  a  month,  at  the  desire  of  a  few,  especially 
Scots  people,  preached  each  Sabbath.  Though  there 
were  pretty  many  hearers,  yet  these  were  not  able 
and  willing  to  do  anything  toward  the  setting  for- 
ward such  a  work.  A  few  there  were  willing  to  do 
their  utmost,  but  so  few  that  I  had  small  grounds  to 
suppose  that  anything  effectual  could  be  done. 
Some  time  before  our  last  Synod,  this  small  handful, 
with  some  few  others  that  had  joined  them,  came  to 
the  Presbytery  of  New^castle  [Delaware],  desiring  a 
transportation  of  me  from  Newcastle  to  New  York, 
which  the  Presbytery  referred  to  the  Synod,  then 
soon  to  meet.  The  Synod  .  .  .  transported  me 
hither. 

"The  people  here  who  are  favorers  of  our  Church 
and  persuasion,  as  I've  told  you,  are  but  few,  and 
none  of  the  richest,  yet  for  all  I  am  not  without 
hopes  that  with  God's  blessing  they  shall  in  a  little 


ON  WALL  STREET  9 

time  increase.  Some  are  already  come  to  live  in  the 
city,  and  more  are  expected,  whose  language  would 
not  allow  them  to  join  with  the  Dutch  or  French 
churches,  and  whose  conscience  would  not  allow 
them  to  join  in  the  service  of  the  English  Church. 
The  chief  thing  now  wanting,  in  all  appearance,  with 
God's  blessing,  is  a  large  convenient  church  to  con- 
gregate in."  * 

After  two  or  three  years,  during  which  the  Pres- 
byterians worshipped  in  the  City  Hall  on  the  corner 
of  Wall  and  Nassau  streets,  they  succeeded  in  erect- 
ing a  church  building  for  themselves  on  the  north  side 
of  Wall  Street  between  Nassau  and  Broadway. 

The  second  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Pem- 
berton.f  During  his  term  the  celebrated  George 
Whitefield  visited  New  York,  and  we  read  of  his 
preaching  in  the  Presbyterian  church  on  Sunday 
evening,  having  in  the  afternoon  preached  "in  the 
fields."  This  visit  quickened  and  increased  the 
congregation.  They  found  it  necessary  to  enlarge 
their  church;  and  in  1750  they  called  a  second  min- 
ister, Mr.  Alexander  Cummings,  to  be  colleague  of 
Mr.  Pemberton. 

The  way  of  progress,  however,  was  by  no  means 
altogether  easy.  Soon  after  this  an  obstinate  dispute 
arose  on  the  question  of  psalmody:  Should  Watts's 
imitation  of  the  Psalms  J  be  substituted  for  Rouse's, 
or,  as  it  was  commonly  called,  the  "Old  Scotch," 

*  This  letter  was  first  printed  in  "The  Presbyterian  Magazine"  for 
October,  1851  (pp.  480  ff.),  having  been  copied  from  the  original,  preserved 
among  the  Wodson  Manuscripts  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh . 

t  He  served  from  1727  till  1754. 

t  Some  desired  the  version  of  Tate  and  Brady.  See  "Rodgers  Mem.," 
p.  149. 


10  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Version  ?  *  Before  this  burning  question  was  set- 
tled, in  the  affirmative,  both  pastors  had  resigned, 
the  church  had  spent  two  years  in  a  vain  attempt  to 
find  successors  for  them,  and  a  part  of  the  member- 
ship had  seceded  to  form  a  separate  church  on  Cedar 
Street.f  Under  the  Rev.  David  Bostwick  J  peace 
and  quiet  were  gradually  restored.  A  few  years  later 
the  Rev.  Joseph  Treat  was  made  associate  minister,^ 
and  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Bostwick  he  continued  to 
serve  the  church  as  colleague  of  the  new  pastor,  who 
was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rodgers,  named  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter. 

The  generally  auspicious  outlook  for  the  church 
at  this  time  is  described  in  one  of  the  letters  writ- 
ten  in  connection   with  Mr.  Rodgers'   call.    "This 

*  As  late  as  1789  some  Presbyterians  continued  to  be  greatly  exercised 
on  this  matter.  In  that  year  a  Mr.  Adam  Rankin,  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania,  addressed  to  the  General  Assembly  a  "Quere"  whether  it 
had  not  been  "a  great  and  pernicious  error  for  the  late  Synod  of  New- 
York  and  Philadelphia  to  permit  the  disuse  of  Rouse's  Version  and  the 
substitution  of  that  of  Watts."  The  comment  of  the  Assembly  was  as 
follows:  "  The  General  Assembly,  having  heard  Mr.  Rankin  at  great  length, 
and  endeavored  to  relieve  his  mind  from  the  difficulty  he  appears  to  labor 
under,  are  sorry  to  find  that  all  their  efforts  have  been  in  vain;  and  there- 
fore only  recommend  to  him  that  exercise  of  Christian  charity  toward 
those  who  differ  from  him  in  their  views  of  this  matter,  which  is  exercised 
toward  himself;  and  that  he  be  carefully  guarded  against  disturbing  the 
peace  of  the  Church  on  this  head."    ("  Assembly  Digest,"  p.  209.) 

t  The  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  now  at  Central  Park  West  and 
Ninety-sixth  Street. 

J  Installed  in  1755;   died  in  1764. 

$  The  following  information  is  contained  in  Sprague's  "Annals" 
(Vol.  Ill,  p.  132,  note):  "Joseph  Treat  was  graduated  at  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  in  1757;  was  a  tutor  in  the  college  from  1758  to  1760;  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  in  1760;  and 
retained  his  connection  as  pastor  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York  till  1784,  when,  in  pursuance  of  an  application  by  the  congregation, 
it  was  dissolved.  In  1785  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  report  that  they 
had,  during  the  preceding  year,  dismissed  Mr.  Treat  to  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick;   but  I  find  no  further  trace  of  him." 


From  "Harper's  Magazine,"  Copyright,  1908,  Harper  &  Brothers 
THE  OLD  WALL  STREET  CHURCH 


ON  WALL  STREET  11 

church,"  the  session  writes,  "from  small  and  de- 
spised beginnings  has  mightily  increased  in  a  few 
years  by  the  kindness  of  God,  and  [is]  now  in  the 
happiest  union,  though  the  members  thereof  are  a 
collection  from  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  many  places  in 
America,  people  of  various  education  and  circum- 
stances." The  writers  go  on  to  express  the  fear  that 
any  disappointment  of  their  desire  to  secure  Mr. 
Rodgers  might  endanger  this  hard-won  prosperity.* 

The  man  upon  whom  so  much  was  thought  to 
depend  was  at  this  time  thirty-eight  years  of  age.f 
His  parents  had  in  1721  come  from  Londonderry,  in 
Ireland,  to  Boston,  where  he  was  born,  but  when  he 
was  but  a  little  over  a  year  old  they  had  again  moved, 
to  Philadelphia,  and  he  was  reared  in  that  city.  He 
appears  to  have  been  by  nature  a  precocious  child 
and  was  early  concerned  with  the  matter  of  religion. 
The  rather  sombre  and  ponderous  narrative  in  which 
this  part  of  his  experience  is  described  by  his  pious 
biographer  would  be  oppressive  to  modern  readers, 
but  in  it  an  anecdote  has  been  preserved  which  more 
pleasantly,  and  yet  quite  as  truly,  reveals  the  boy's 
early  religious  development. 

It  appears  that,  like  the  church  which  he  was  later 
to  serve,  he  had  come  under  the  strong  influence  of 
George  Whitefield.  Many  times,  when  this  moving 
preacher  spoke  in  Philadelphia,  little  John  Rodgers 
was  among  his  hearers  and  greatly  impressed  by  the 
message   that   he   heard.      On   one   occasion,   when 

*For  period  1706-17G5,  see  "Manuscript  Hist.,"  pp.  1  ff;  "Presb. 
N.  Y.,"  pp.  3  ff.;  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  8;  "Handbook  of  N.  Y.  Presby- 
tery," 1903-1904,  pp.  13  /.;   "Disosway,"  pp.  131  ff. 

t  He  was  bom  August  5th,  1727.  For  the  facts  of  his  hfe,  see  "  Rodgers 
Mem." 


12  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Whitefield  was  preaching,  as  he  often  did,  from  the 
Court  House  steps  in  Market  Street,  the  boy,  in  his 
eagerness  to  hear,  had  pressed  his  way  through  the 
crowd  until  he  stood  directly  beside  the  speaker,  and 
as  it  happened  was  entrusted  with  the  holding  of  a 
lantern  for  Mr.  Whitefield's  accommodation.  "Soon 
after  the  sermon  began,"  says  the  story,  "he  became 
so  absorbed  in  the  subject,  and  at  length  so  deeply 
impressed  and  strongly  agitated,  that  he  was  scarcely 
able  to  stand ;  the  lantern  fell  from  his  hand  and  was 
dashed  in  pieces;  and  that  part  of  the  audience  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  speaker's  station  were 
not  a  little  interested,  and  for  a  few  moments  dis- 
composed by  the  occurrence."  * 

It  was  not  long  after  this  time,  we  are  told,  and 
when  he  was  but  a  little  more  than  twelve  years  of  age, 
that  he  came,  as  he  hoped,  to  "a  saving  knowledge 
and  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  entered  upon 
the  Master's  service  with  devotion.  He  very  early 
formed  the  purpose  of  entering  the  Christian  minis- 
try and  set  about  the  definite  task  of  preparing  him- 
self for  that  work.  He  prosecuted  his  studies  under 
various  masters  with  great  diligence,  and  in  October, 
1747,  in  his  twentieth  year,  he  took  his  examinations 
for  licensure,  which  he  passed  with  more  than  usual 
approbation. 

Not  until  over  a  year  later  was  he  ordained  and 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  14.  Sprague,  in  his  "Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit"  (Vol.  Ill,  p.  154),  adds:  "Some  time  after  he  was  settled  in  the 
ministry,  Whitefield  being  on  a  visit  to  his  house,  Mr.  Rodgers  alluded  to 
this  incident  and  asked  him  if  he  recollected  it.  'Oh,  yes,'  replied  White- 
field,  '  I  remember  it  well,  and  have  often  thought  I  would  give  almost 
anything  in  my  power  to  know  who  that  little  boy  was  and  what  had 
become  of  him.'  Mr.  Rodgers  replied  with  a  smile,  'I  am  that  little 
boy.'" 


ON  WALL  STREET  13 

settled  in  a  church,  but  that  year  was  by  no  means  a 
barren  one.  Obstacles  which  he  experienced  in  Vir- 
ginia, due  to  the  intolerance  of  the  established  clergy 
there,  served  only  to  increase  his  determination, 
while  a  few  months  spent  in  Maryland,  which 
might  have  been  passed  in  idle  waiting,  he  turned 
to  such  good  account  that  he  afterward  referred 
to  these  months  as  perhaps  the  most  useful  of 
his  life.  One  incident  at  this  time  may  serve  to 
illustrate  his  strength  of  will  and  the  determination 
with  which  he  had  entered  upon  his  work.  He  was 
preaching  one  Sunday  to  a  large  congregation  in 
the  open  air,  when  in  the  midst  of  the  sermon  he 
suddenly  swooned,  apparently  without  any  warn- 
ing, and  fell  lifeless  to  the  ground.  Whatever  the 
cause  of  this  alarming  experience,  it  was  more  than 
an  ordinary  fainting-turn,  for  his  friends,  when  they 
had  gathered  around  him,  supposed  him  to  be  dead, 
and  were  amazed,  when,  after  some  time,  he  returned 
to  consciousness.  "He  arose  with  a  little  assistance," 
says  his  biographer,  "walked  into  an  adjoining  wood, 
and  in  about  half  an  hour  returned  and  finished  his 
discourse,  resuming  it,  as  his  audience  remarked, 
with  the  very  word  which  was  on  his  lips  when  he 
fell."  His  conduct  is  the  more  remarkable  in  that  on 
the  following  Sunday  the  same  thing  happened  and 
was  met  by  him  with  the  same  indomitable  spirit. 
Strangely  enough,  and  most  happily,  the  second 
occurrence  was  also  the  last.* 

On  March  16th,  1749,  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  St. 
George's,   Delaware.      He  had   received   calls   froni 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  62-64. 


14  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

four  dijSPerent  churches.  The  one  at  St.  George's  was 
the  smallest  and  feeblest,  but  having  been  assured 
that  its  very  existence  depended  on  his  coming,  he 
determined  to  make  that  church  his  choice.  His 
ministry  there,  which  lasted  sixteen  years,  was 
blessed  in  every  possible  way.  The  church  began  at 
once  to  increase  in  membership  and  soon  the  building 
required  to  be  enlarged.  At  a  later  time  the  people  of 
the  neighborhood  so  crowded  to  hear  him  that  the 
church  of  another  denomination  was  literally  deserted. 

He  was  not  only  admired  as  a  preacher,  but  re- 
spected and  beloved  as  a  pastor.  When  we  read  the 
description  of  his  annual  calls  upon  the  families  of 
his  church,  we  cannot  but  admire  the  thoroughness 
of  his  method,  and  still  more  their  patience  in  sub- 
mitting to  it.  There  are  times  when  one  is  content, 
it  must  be  confessed,  to  live  in  a  less  heroic  age.  On 
these  occasions,  we  are  told,  *'he  called  upon  every 
member  of  the  family  to  repeat  a  part  of  the  Assem- 
bly's Catechism ;  asked  them  a  number  of  extempore 
questions  on  doctrinal  and  practical  subjects  in  re- 
ligion; prayed  with  them;  and  gave  a  warm  and 
pathetic  exhortation."  * 

His  own  people  were  not  the  only  ones  who  valued 
him.  He  soon  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his 
brother  clergymen  round  about,  and  was  more  and 
more  sought  to  give  counsel  and  to  aid  in  the  per- 
formance of  important  tasks.  It  was  no  wonder  that, 
when  in  1765  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York 
was  seeking  a  colleague  for  Mr.  Treat,  the  name  of 
Mr.  Rodgers  should  be  mentioned.  Indeed,  ten 
years  before  this  they  had  sought  to  bring  him  to 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  88  ff. 


ON  WALL  STREET  15 

New  York  without  success.  This  time  their  call  was 
more  effective,  though  for  a  while  the  result  was  in 
doubt.  The  people  of  St.  George's  were  most  re- 
luctant to  part  with  him.  He  himself  was  deeply  at- 
tached to  them  and  to  his  work  in  that  place.  His 
Presbytery,  before  whom  the  call  was  laid,  refused  to 
decide,  and  referred  the  question  to  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  It  was  only  "after  a  full 
and  patient  hearing  of  all  parties  for  near  three  days  "  * 
that  a  conclusion  was  reached  by  the  Synod  in  favor 
of  Mr.  Rodgers'  acceptance  of  the  call  to  New  York.f 
He  and  his  family  J  were  settled  in  their  new 
home  by  July,   1765,  and  he  was  installed  as  pas- 

*  "  Rodgers  Mem,"  p.  120. 

t  Sprague,  in  hie  "Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit "  (Vol.  Ill,  p.  157), 
says  of  Mr.  Rodgers:  "  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1765,  he  received  two 
calls,  one  from  the  congregation  in  New  York,  then  just  vacated  by  the 
death  of  the  Rev.  David  Bostwick,  and  another  from  a  large  and  important 
Congregational  Church  in  Charlestown,  vS.  C.  Mr.  Whitefield,  who  hap- 
pened to  visit  him  about  that  time,  gave  it  as  his  decided  opinion  that  tfie 
indications  of  Providence  were  in  favor  of  his  removal,  but  was  doubtful 
in  which  direction  he  ought  to  go.  The  question  .  .  .  was  finally  referred 
to  the  Synod.  .  .  .  His  installation  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  New  York 
took  place  in  September  following.  The  installation  sermon  was  preached 
by  the  Rev.  James  Caldwell  of  Elizabethtown." 

J  He  married  September  19th,  1752,  Elizabeth  Bayard,  who  died 
January  20th,  1763.  On  August  15th,  1764,  he  married  Mrs.  Mary  Grant, 
a  widow.  Interesting  evidence  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  made  pro- 
vision for  his  wife,  in  the  event  of  his  own  death,  is  provided  by  a  docu- 
ment still  in  existence,  having  been  handed  down  in  his  family  to  his 
great-grandson,  Mr.  Robertson  Rodgers,  who  presented  it  to  the  author  of 
this  volume.  This  is  a  bond  given  by  John  Rodgers  to  the  "Corporation 
for  the  Relief  of  Poor  and  Distressed  Presbyterian  Ministers,  and  of  the 
Poor  and  Distressed  Widows  and  Children  of  Presbyterian  Ministers,"  for 
the  annual  payment  of  seven  pounds  sterling  during  his  natural  life,  in  return 
for  which  his  widow  or  surviving  children  were  to  receive  "  an  annuity  of 
thirty-five  pounds  current  money."  One  of  the  conditions  agreed  to  by 
him  was,  "That  on  the  second  marriage  of  the  said  John  Rodgers  and  on 
every  subsequent  marriage  of  the  said  John  Rodgers,  he  shall  or  will  pay.  .  . 
the  sum  of  seven  pounds  over  and  above  the  annual  rate."  To  the  bond  are 


16  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

tor  *  on  September  4th  following.  He  was  cordially 
received  by  the  Presbyterians  of  New  York  City  and 
was  soon  hard  at  work  with  an  ardor  and  devotion 
which  began  at  once  to  show  good  results.  Not 
many  months  had  passed  after  his  installation  when 
a  decided  revival  of  religious  interest  was  apparent. 
The  church  was  crowded  with  worshippers;  many 
were  making  serious  inquiry  about  their  religious 
obligations;  and  it  could  not  be  doubted  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  was  at  work  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
As  we  now  look  back  at  that  time  from  a  distance  of 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  we  can  know  but 
little  of  what  took  place  in  the  experience  of  the  in- 
dividuals who  were  then  led  into  the  ways  of  the 
Christian  life — their  very  names  are  now  unknown  to 
us, — but  that  revival  has  left  behind  it  one  tangible 
memorial  which  in  itself  has  proved  to  be  not  the 
least  of  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  thronging  congregations  which  were 
gathered  by  Mr.  Rodgers'  ministry,  were  soon  too 
large  by  far  to  be  accommodated  in  the  church  on 
Wall  Street.  At  the  same  time  the  enthusiasm  that 
had  increased  the  numbers  of  the  Presbyterians  had 
also  increased  their  courage  and  their  readiness  to 
assume  enlarged  responsibilities.  They  determined 
that  they  must  at  once  build  a  new  church. 

attached  receipts  from  the  treasurer,  the  earhest  of  which  is  for  the  year 
1775;  and  at  the  end  of  the  document  are  a  number  of  notes  in  Dr.  Rod- 
gers' own  hand,  of  which  the  following  are  the  earliest:  "N.  B.  May  22d, 
1793,  I,  this  day  paid  my  annual  subscription  to  the  Widow's  fund  as  ap- 
pears by  the  Treasurer's  Rect  and  the  Entry  in  his  Books.  John  Rodgers." 
— "This  I  have  done  yearly  &  every  year  since  the  Year  1763  when  I  be- 
came a  Contributor— and  I  also  paid  the  sum  of  Seven  Pounds  extraordinary 
on  my  marriage  to  my  present  Wife.  John  Rodgers." 
*  See  Appendix  B,  p.  516. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  NEW  CHURCH  :    1765-1767 

"And  Araunah  said.  Wherefore  is  my  lord  the  king  come  to  his  servant?  And 
Da\1d  said,  To  buy  the  thresliingfloor  of  thee,  to  build  an  altar  unto  the  Lord." — 
2  Samuel  24  :  21. 

••A  decent  Edifice  Erected  on  this  Spot,  properly  Enclosed  in  a  pail  fence,  will  be 
a  Great  Ornament  to  the  Green." — Officers  of  the  Brick  Church,  "Minutes  of 
the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  Vol.  VII,  p.  11. 

IN  providing  the  new  place  of  worship  the  first 
problem  that  presented  itself  was  the  securing 
of  a  suitable  plot  of  ground.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  owned  no  land  that  could  be  used  for  this 
purpose,  and  it  would  doubtless  have  been  very 
difficult  to  raise  sufficient  money  for  the  purchase  of 
a  site,  but  it  was  hoped  that,  if  properly  approached, 
the  city  authorities  would  come  to  the  rescue.  Ac- 
cordingly on  February  19th,  1766,  a  petition*  was 
drawn  up,  which  plays  so  important  a  part  in  this 
history  that  it  must  be  given  in  full. 

"To  THE  Worshipful  the  Mayor,  Aldermen 
AND  Commonalty  of  the  City  of  New  York,  in 
Common  Council  Convened: 

"The  petition  of  the  ministers,  elders,  deacons, 
trustees,  communicants  and  other  members  of  the 
English  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  according  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  Catechism,  and  Directory,  and  agreeable  to  the 

*  See  "Document  No.  37,"  pp.  504-560. 

17 


18  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

present    Established    Church    of    Scotland,    humbly 
sheweth : 

"That  while  the  church  to  which  your  petitioners 
belong  has  not  unmeritedly  been  esteemed  for  the 
purity  of  her  doctrines,  her  members,  we  would  pre- 
sume to  hope,  have  approved  themselves  good  sub- 
jects and  useful  members  of  society;  that  by  the 
blessing  of  Almighty  God  your  petitioners  have  so 
increased  in  numbers,  as  at  this  day  to  constitute 
a  very  considerable  part  of  the  freemen,  freeholders, 
and  inhabitants  of  this  flourishing  city ;  that  although 
your  petitioners  are  already  possessed  of  a  spacious 
and  convenient  edifice  for  the  public  service  of  Al- 
mighty God,  and  the  administration  of  divine  ordi- 
nances according  to  their  wholesome  and  approved 
form  of  discipline  and  worship,  yet,  by  their  great 
and  continual  growth,  that  building  is  rendered  alto- 
gether incapable  of  containing  their  congregation, 
and  the  cemetery  too  small  for  decent  interment  of 
their  dead;  that,  urged  by  these  necessities,  your  pe- 
titioners have  lately  cast  their  eyes  around  them  in 
search  of  a  convenient  spot  of  ground  for  the  erection 
of  another  church,  and  for  supplying  it  with  a  ceme- 
tery; that  in  this  survey  the  known  and  approved 
benevolence  of  the  Honorable  Board  toward  every 
Protestant  denomination  in  this  city,  and  its  abilities 
to  relieve  the  present  necessities  of  our  congregation 
could  not  fail  to  command  its  attention;  nor  will  the 
distinguished  generosity  by  which  our  brethren  of 
Trinity  Church  were  supplied  with  a  large  and  con- 
venient burying-ground,  of  the  free  gift  of  this  Hon- 
orable Board,  nor  the  late  grant  of  a  number  of  lots 
to  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  this 


THE  NEW  CHURCH 


19 


city,  upon  a  reasonable  rent,  permit  us  to  doubt  of 
the  success  of  this  our  application ;  that,  though  your 
petitioners  would  not  be  thought  to  prescribe,  yet 
upon  the  view  of  the  several  lots  belonging  to  this 
Honorable  Board,  within  the  compass  of  the  improved 
parts  of  this  city,  the  angular  lot  adjoining  to  the 
ground    lately    called    the    Vineyard  *    and    to    the 
Green  f  appeals  to  your  petitioners  to  command  the 
preference,  not  only  with  a  view  to  convenience,  but 
what  will  doubtless  ever  merit  the  attention  of  this 
Honorable  Board,  the  public  ornament;    that  influ- 
enced by  the  latter,  as  a  first  motive,  your  petitioners 
beg  leave  to  observe,  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  keep 
open  a  cross  street  J  between  this  piece  of  ground 
and  the  Vineyard,  by  which  the  angle  being  short- 
ened at  its  base,  will  be  so  much  diminished  as  to 
contain  of  about  six  lots  only,  which  your  petitioners 
humbly  conceive  will  be  a  compass  too  small,  espe- 
cially if  its  disadvantageous  form  be  considered,  to 
contain  a  decent  edifice   and   a  suitable    cemetery; 
that  therefore,  should  this  Honorable  Board  conde- 
scend to  relieve  the  wants  of  your  petitioners,  they 
would  beg  leave  to  suggest  the  necessity  of  an  addi- 
tional   piece  of  ground,   with  such    convenience  in 
point  of  situation  and  quantity,  for  the  use  of  a  ceme- 
tery, as  to  this  Honorable  Board  shall  seem  meet,  for 
which,  as  well  as  the  angular  lot  above  mentioned, 
your  petitioners  are  freely  willing  to  render  to  this 
Honorable    Board    a   rent   suitable   to    the    circum- 
stances of  their  church,  and  to  erect  such  an  edifice, 

*  "North-eastward  of  the  Vineyard,"  is  the  fuller  description  given 
elsewhere.     "Common  Council,"  Vol.  VII,  p.  9. 
t  The  present  City  Hall  Park. 
t  This  was  the  later  Beekman  Street. 


20  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

as  will  contribute  to  public  ornament.  Your  peti- 
tioners, therefore,  humbly  pray  this  Honorable  Board 
to  take  their  extreme  necessities  into  your  serious 
consideration,  and  to  grant  to  them  the  aforesaid 
angle  of  ground  for  the  erection  of  a  new  church, 
with  an  additional  lot,  suitable  for  a  cemetery,  sub- 
ject to  such  an  annual  rent  to  be  rendered  forever  to 
the  Honorable  Board,  as  they,  in  their  great  wisdom 
and  justice,  shall  think  reasonable;  and  your  peti- 
tioner shall  ever  pray,  etc."  * 

When  it  is  realized  that  the  "angular  lot"  so 
boldly,  though  respectfully,  asked  for  is  approxi- 
mately the  land  bounded  to-day  by  Nassau  and  Beek- 
man  streets  and  Park  Row,  one  is  inclined  to  regard 
with  admiration  and  even  with  amazement  the  te- 
merity of  the  petitioners.  But  in  truth  their  request 
was  not  so  extraordinary  as  it  sounds  to  us.  In  the 
first  place,  the  relation  of  the  authorities  to  the  indi- 
vidual citizens  and  their  personal  interests  was  at  that 
time  much  more  paternal  than  at  present,  a  condition 
that  had  its  advantages  as  well  as  its  drawbacks;  and  in 
the  second  place,  the  property  in  question  had  in  1765 
comparatively  little  value.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  New  York  City  at  the  time  covered  but  a  small 
area  at  the  southern  end  of  Manhattan  Island.  On 
the  west  side  the  region  of  houses  had  passed  into  the 
region  of  fields  not  far  north  of  what  is  now  City  Hall 
Park.     On  the  east,  which  was  then  the  more  pros- 

*  The  names  of  the  petitioners  were:  Ministers;  John  Rodgers  and 
Joseph  Treat:  Elders;  William  Smith,  Garret  Noel,  Nathaniel  McKinley, 
Peter  Van  Brugh  Livingston,  John  Smith,  and  Thomas  Jackson:  Deacons; 
John  Stevens  and  Peter  Riker:  Trustees;  Thomas  Smith,  Peter  R.  Liv- 
ingston, Joseph  Hallett,  John  Lashor  [Lasher  ?],  Jr.,  William  Smith,  Jr., 
John  Dunlap  and  John  Morin  Scott. 


Courtesy  of  Harper  Brothers. 


NEW  YORK   IN    1767 
From  Thomas  A.  Janvier's  "In  Old  New  York" 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  21 

perous  portion  of  the  city  and  the  more  fashionable, 
the  houses  extended  somewhat  farther,  but  in  a  north- 
easterly direction.  Standing  on  the  ground  that  was 
wanted  for  the  new  church  and  looking  northward 
across  the  Green,  one  would  have  seen  the  poor- 
house  (on  the  site  of  the  present  City  Hall)  and  the 
City  Prison  (in  later  years  the  Record  Office).  Back 
of  these  he  might  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
barracks,  but,  except  for  these  buildings,  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach  was  open  country.  In  fact,  the  land 
desired  was  on  the  extreme  northern  edge  of  the  city. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  sufficiently  accessible, 
and  what  was  more,  the  petitioners  believed  that 
there  was  a  good  chance  of  getting  it.  In  this  they 
were  not  disappointed.  A  committee  of  five  was 
directed  by  the  Common  Council  to  confer  with  the 
representatives  of  the  church  and  to  report,*  and 
there  seems  from  the  beginning  to  have  been  a  dis- 
position to  grant  the  request  in  substance,  only  the 
details  being  matter  for  further  discussion ;  for  in  the 
next  communication  from  the  church  the  petitioners 
say  expressly  that  they  "take  very  kindly  the  Speedy 
Attention  Given  by  the  Corporation  to  their  Request." 

There  was  at  first  some  doubt  whether,  instead  of 

*  For  this  and  the  following  statements  see  "Common  Council,"  Vol. 
VII,  pp.  5  ff.  Some  items  from  the  minutes  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  for 
the  meeting  at  which  the  Presbyterian  petition  was  received,  and  the  one 
held  the  next  week  after,  relating  to  the  ferries  on  the  East  and  North 
rivers,  point  out  in  an  interesting  way  the  primitive  conditions  of  that 
time.  We  learn  that  there  was  but  one  ferry  to  Nassau  (now  Long)  Island, 
a  petition  for  a  second  one  being  rejected.  It  was  ordered  that  after  ad- 
vertising "in  all  the  publick  or  weakly  Gazzetees,"  the  existing  ferry  should 
be  farmed  out  "by  Public  Outcry  to  the  highest  Bidder."  As  to  the 
means  of  reaching  New  Jersey,  we  learn  that  an  exclusive  grant  of  the 
right  of  ferriage  across  the  Hudson  from  New  York  was  given  to  one  man, 
who  agreed  to  keep  in  use  three  large  boats  and  two  small  ones. 


22  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  lot  petitioned  for,  another  piece  of  land,  de- 
scribed as  "opposite  the  Old  Wind  Mill  Spot," 
might  not  be  made  to  serve  the  church's  purpose. 
This  the  petitioners  vigorously  opposed,  and  some 
of  their  arguments  are  interesting,  not  only  in  them- 
selves, but  in  the  light  they  throw  upon  the  conditions 
of  life  in  New  York  at  that  time.  They  urged  that 
the  land  proposed  as  an  alternative,  and  which  lay 
near  the  juncture  of  the  present  Elizabeth  and  Hes- 
ter streets,  was  "too  remote,"  that  the  streets  leading 
to  it  were  inconveniently  narrow  and  would  "prob- 
ably not  be  paved  for  many  years  to  come,"  and  that 
there  would  be  danger  to  the  proposed  church  from 
the  small  wooden  buildings  of  that  neighborhood. 
They  therefore  renewed  their  request  for  the  lots  ad- 
joining the  Vineyard,  on  the  ground  that  this  land 
was  "nearer  the  Inhabited  Part  of  the  City,"  and 
"more  convenient  to  the  Petitioners,  as  it  will  admit 
of  an  Easy  Access  at  all  times  of  the  Yeare,"  arid 
also  because  it  was  the  choice  most  likely  to  improve 
the  appearance  of  the  city,  "whereas,"  say  they,  "it 
is  at  Present  Entirely  Useless,  or  Rather  a  Nuisance, 
as  it  is  now  a  Receptacle  for  all  the  Dirt  and  Filth  of 
the  Neighborhood."  *  They  add,  moreover,  that  an 
accurate  measurement  having  shown  the  plot  to  con- 
tain the  equivalent,  not  of  six,  but  of  nearly  nine  city 
lots,  twenty-five  by  a  hundred  feet  each,t  it  will  be 
unnecessary  to  provide  extra  land  elsewhere  for  a 
"Cymetery";  and  finally  they  make  an  offer  of 
forty  pounds  sterling  ground-rent  per  annum. 

*  "Common  Coun6il,"  Vol.  VII,  p.  11. 

t  The  property  measured  on  its  south-west  side  (Beekman  Street),  152 
feet,  on  the  south-east  side,  200  feet,  on  the  north-east  side,  62  feet,  and  on 
the  north-west  side  (toward  the  "  Green  "),  214  feet. 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  23 

The  committee  of  the  Common  Council  reported 
favorably  upon  the  request  of  the  petitioners  in  its 
entirety,  and  on  February  25th,  1766,  the  Board  con- 
veyed the  "Vineyard  lot"  *  to  the  ministers,  elders, 
deacons,  and  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
and  to  their  heirs  and  assigns  forever  ("in  considera- 
tion of  the  pious  and  laudable  designs  of  the  said 
parties")  on  condition  that  within  a  reasonable  time 
they  should  "enclose  the  same  within  a  good  and 
sufficient  fence,  and  either  erect  an  edifice  or  church 
thereon,  or  on  a  part  thereof,  for  the  worship  of 
Almighty  God,  or  use  the  same,  or  a  part  thereof, 
for  a  cemetery  or  church-yard,  for  the  burial  or 
interment  of  the  dead,  and  shall  not  appropriate, 
apply,  nor  convert  the  same  at  any  time,  forever 
thereafter,  to  private,  secular  uses,"  and  also  upon 
further  condition  of  the  payment  of  an  annual 
ground-rent  of  forty  pounds  sterling. 

Several  clauses  in  this  grant  were  destined  to  cre- 
ate more  or  less  discussion  and  even  controversy  in 
later  years.  The  right  of  burial  here  given  was  made 
the  basis  of  a  claim  upon  the  city  in  the  next  century; 
the  meaning  of  the  phrase  "private,  secular  uses," 
proved,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  to  be  not  as  clear  as 
was  at  first  supposed,  and  especially  the  matter  of 
the  ground-rent  demanded  readjustment  from  time 
to  time. 

The  land  for  the  new  church  was  now  provided, 
but  the  church  itself  was  still  a  thing  of  the  future. 
Mr.  Rodgers  set  about  the  raising  of  the  money  for 
this  purpose  and  soon  proved  that  in  this  practical 

*  Loosely  so  described,  though  the  lots  merely  adjoined  the  "Vine- 
yard."   See  above,  page  19. 


24  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

department  of  his  work  he  was  as  energetic  and  suc- 
cessful as  in  his  spiritual  ministry.  For  several 
months  he  went  from  door  to  door,  literally  collecting 
with  his  own  hands  the  money  needed  for  this  pur- 
pose.* In  after  years  he  is  said  to  have  narrated 
many  anecdotes  of  those  days,  describing  sometimes 
the  unexpected  repulses  and  sometimes  the  agreeable 
surprises  that  he  encountered.  One  incident  of  the 
latter  sort  has  come  down  to  us  and  is  worth  repeat- 
ing, for  it  makes  us  realize  that  the  building  of  the 
church  on  Beekman  Street  was  no  mere  business 
enterprise,  but  a  labor  of  love.  Mr.  Rodgers  with  an 
officer  of  the  church,  in  the  course  of  his  money- 
raising,  called  one  morning  at  the  house  of  a  certain 
widow  who  had  recently  lost  by  death  a  dearly  loved 
daughter,  and  who  was  known  to  be  in  very  narrow 
circumstances.  Little  or  nothing  was  expected  from 
her,  and  indeed  the  two  callers  were  loath  to  ask  her 
for  anything.  Their  reason  for  coming  to  her  at  all 
was  that  they  would  not  hurt  her  feelings  by  seeming 
to  overlook  her,  or  to  despise  her  little  gift.  They 
were,  accordingly,  amazed  when,  after  she  learned 
their  errand,  she  brought  and  put  into  their  hands 
a  sum  which  for  her  was  very  large  indeed.  She 
could  well  spare  it,  she  assured  them,  when  they  ex- 
pressed reluctance  to  take  so  much.  It  was  money 
saved  in  former  years;  in  truth,  laid  by  to  be  her 
daughter's  marriage  portion.  We  need  not  be  told 
that  the  good  minister  and  his  companion  went  out 
from  that  humble  house  with  renewed  courage  for 
their  difficult  task.  The  other  anecdotes  of  that 
soliciting  tour  have   been  forgotten,  but  when  the 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  181  fj. 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  25 

story  of  the  Brick  Church  is  retold  from  time  to  time 
the  gift  of  this  woman  shall  still  "be  spoken  of  for 
a  memorial  of  her." 

Of  the  appearance  of  the  new  church  on  its  com- 
pletion at  the  end  of  1767,*  we  have  very  little  direct 
knowledge,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  so 
far  as  the  exterior  was  concerned,  the  main  features 
were  much  the  same  as  in  pictures  and  descriptions 
that  come  down  to  us  from  about  ISOO.f  Without 
attempting  at  this  time  to  describe  the  details  of  the 
building,  we  may  with  certainty  say  that,  though 
much  plainer  and  in  many  points  less  attractive,  it 

*  There  is  to-day,  set  into  the  outer  wall  of  the  present  Brick  Church, 
immediately  south  of  the  north  entrance,  a  piece  of  brownstone,  bevelled, 
with  this  inscription: 

P.  V.  B.  Livingsto 
1767 

The  author  has  been  unable  to  gain  any  direct  information  in  regard  to  it, 
but  the  date  suggests,  of  course,  that  it  was  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  building  of  the  church  on  Beekman  Street.  Is  it,  perhaps,  a  fragment 
of  the  original  corner-stone?  A  newspaper  report  of  an  address  by  Dr. 
Spring  at  his  fiftieth  anniversary  in  1860,  quotes  him  as  saying  that  the 
original  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Dr.  Rodgers'  "own  hands,  with  those  of 
Livingston."  The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  would  appear  certain,  were  it 
not  that  Dr.  Spring  has  also  stated  ("Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  8),  that  this  cor- 
ner-stone was  laid  in  the  fall  of  1766.  But  what  was  his  authority  for  this 
statement?  Most  probably  the  words  of  Dr.  Miller  ("Rodgers  Mem.," 
p.  181),  "the  foundation  of  the  new  church  was  laid  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year,"  that  is,  1766.  "Foundation,"  it  will  be  noticed,  is  the  word 
used  in  this  older  record,  not  "corner-stone."  Doubtless  Dr.  Spring  made 
an  erroneous,  though  natural,  inference,  and  we  may  assume  that  the 
stone  is  a  part  of  the  original  corner-stone  laid  by  Dr.  Rodgers  and  Peter 
Van  Brugh  Livingston  in  1767. 

t  Except  that,  apparently,  the  steeple  was  not  added  till  a  later  time, 
Noah  Webster,  in  1788,  describes  the  church  as  "a  genteel  brick  building, 
.  .  .  with  a  steeple  not  finished."  The  following  extract  from  the  diary 
of  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson,  preserved  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
suggests  a  possible  date  for  the  steeple's  completion.  "Jany  11th,  1794. 
Saturday  Evening  We  had  an  alarm  of  '  Fire.'  I  believe  it  arose  from  trying 
the  new  Bell  in  the  Brick  Meeting,  which  gave  an  alarm  to  the  other  bells.'' 


$26  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

was  built  in  the  same  style  as  the  present  St.  Paul's 
Chapel,  which  had  been  erected  about  two  years 
before,  and  stood  but  a  short  distance  away.  The 
front  was  on  what  is  now  Beekman  Street,  so  that 
the  church  almost  had  its  back  to  the  Green — looked 
at  it  over  its  right  shoulder,  as  it  were — a  fact  which, 
were  it  still  standing  to-day,  when  almost  the  whole 
city  lies  to  the  north  of  City  Hall  Park,  would  give  it 
a  singular  appearance.  The  northern  end  of  the 
church,  however,  was  by  no  means  neglected.  The 
large  colonial  window  in  that  wall  was  in  excellent 
taste,  and  indeed  in  general  it  is  evident  that  the 
promise  to  build  a  church  which  should  be  an  orna- 
ment to  the  city,  as  set  forth  in  the  petition  for  the 
land,  was  by  no  means  forgotten.  The  church, 
while  it  stood,  was  one  of  the  truly  admirable  speci- 
mens of  the  city's  architecture. 

One  feature  of  the  structure  must  be  mentioned 
even  if  all  others  should  be  disregarded :  it  was  built 
of  brick.  It  has  been  assumed  by  some  that  on  ac- 
count of  this  fact,  and  because  the  old  church  on 
Wall  Street  was  of  stone,  the  new  structure  was  at 
once  called  the  "Brick  Church."  This  does  not 
appear  to  be  exactly  the  history  of  the  name's  origin. 
For  a  number  of  years  after  the  church  was  built,  in 
fact,  till  1799,  the  session  records  speak  of  it  consist- 
ently as  the  "New  Church."  There  is  evidence,  it  is 
true,  that  in  popular  usage  the  name  Brick  Church 
or  Brick  Meeting-House  had  been  commonly  em- 
ployed at  an  earlier  time,  but  it  certainly  had  no 
official  standing  until  about  the  date  that  has  been 
mentioned.  At  that  time  a  third  church  had  been 
completed,  so  that  to  call  the  building  on  Beekman 


THE  BUICK  CHURCH   FROM  THE   NORTH-EAST   IN    ISOO 
Showing  St.  Paul's  Chapel  on  the  right 


VIEW    FROM   THE   sWli;    I'olNT    IN    1V.(I^ 
Steeple  u(  St.  Paul's  in  tlie  ceiilre 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  27 

Street  "new"  was  no  longer  appropriate.  In  Eng- 
land, where  the  spirit  of  conservatism  is  strong,  this 
difficulty  would  not  have  been  regarded;  the  church 
would  have  continued  to  be  called  the  "New  Church" 
till  the  end  of  time,  after  the  manner  of  New  College, 
Oxford,  which  was  founded  in  the  year  1379,  or  the 
New  Inn  at  Gloucester,  which  claims  to  be  the  oldest 
in  the  Kingdom.  But  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that 
even  as  early  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Americans  were  moved  by  the  desire  to  keep  up  to 
date.  The  name  "New"  was  surrendered  to  the 
younger  organization  on  Rutgers  Street,  and  the 
Brick  Church  assumed  its  present  title.  This,  how- 
ever, took  place  as  has  been  said,  more  than  thirty 
years  after  the  erection  of  the  building,  to  which 
event  we  must  return. 

The  possession  of  the  new  land,  and  the  invest- 
ment of  a  considerable  amount  of  money  in  the 
building  erected  upon  it,  brought  to  the  front  once 
more  a  difficulty  that  had  already  existed  for  many 
years,  and  had  caused  the  officers  of  the  church  no 
little  concern.  According  to  the  law  of  the  Province 
no  charter  of  incorporation  could  be  obtained  by  a 
Presbyterian  organization,  a  fact  which  made  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  hold  property  or  to  secure  the 
payment  of  legacies.  Attempts  had  been  made  as 
early  as  1720  and  repeatedly  in  the  half  century  that 
followed*  to  secure  these  very  necessary  privileges, 
but  without  success,  owing  largely  to  the  determined 
opposition  of  the  vestry  of  old  Trinity,  who  were  re- 
luctant to  share  with  others  the  privileges  enjoyed  by 
the  Established  Church. 

*  See  "Eodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  135  ff.,  140  ff.,  166. 


28  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

In  1730,  fearing  that  those  who  were  moved  by 
this  unfriendly  spirit  might  take  further  advantage  of 
their  position,  the  Presbyterians  determined  to  make 
their  property  safe  by  putting  it  into  the  hands  of  a 
body  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  colony.  Accord- 
ingly, they  conveyed  it  to  a  committee  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  The  practical 
management,  however,  of  the  church's  temporal 
affairs  was,  at  this  period,  by  common  consent,  en- 
trusted almost  entirely  to  Dr.  John  NicoU,  a  physi- 
cian of  New  York,  whose  devoted  service  to  the 
church  deserves  to  be  gratefully  remembered.  After 
his  death  in  1743  the  congregation  appointed  for  this 
task  a  self-perpetuating  committee  of  eight  *  gentle- 
men, who  were  called  trustees,  but  whose  obligation 
to  the  church  rested,  of  course,  on  a  moral,  not  a 
legal,  basis.  The  trust,  which  was  thus  by  necessity 
reposed  in  the  faithfulness  of  individuals,  was  so  far 
from  being  abused  in  any  way  that  when,  in  1762, 
the  church  acquired  possession  of  a  "parsonage- 
house,"  the  cumbersome  method  of  applying  to 
Scotland  was  not  resorted  to,  and  the  property  was 
vested  in  private  persons,  members  or  officers  of  the 
church. 

This  was  the  method  by  which  it  was  proposed  to 
hold  the  New  Church  on  Beekman  Street.  It  could 
not  but  be  evident,  however,  that  this  plan  was  open 
to  very  grave  objections  as  applied  to  such  large  in- 
terests as  were  now  at  stake,  and  spurred  on  by  their 
increased  necessity  the  church  authorities  made  a 
new  attempt  to  secure  a  charter.  It  was  discovered 
that  the  Governor  of  the  Province,  Sir  Henry  Moore, 

♦  Increaeed  to  twelve  in  1771.    ("Manuscript  Hist.,"  p.  16.) 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  29 

was  favorable  to  their  desire,  but  some  doubt  was 
raised  as  to  his  power  to  act  in  the  premises,  and  a 
reference  of  the  question  to  the  Provincial  Council, 
constituted  as  it  then  was,  did  not  seem  at  all  likely 
to  help  the  matter. 

The  officers  of  the  church,  therefore,  in  March, 
1766,  addressed  a  petition  to  King  George.  The 
Privy  Council,  before  whom  it  was  laid  by  His 
Majesty,  referred  it  in  turn  to  the  Board  of  Trade, 
whose  President,  Lord  Dartmouth,  the  patron  of 
Dartmouth  College  in  New  Hampshire,  showed  him- 
self a  sincere  friend  to  the  petitioners  and  their  cause. 
In  spite  of  delays  and  discouragements,  the  request 
might  have  been  granted  at  this  time,  had  not  the 
Bishop  of  London  declared  himself  its  enemy,  ap- 
pearing twice  before  the  board  in  opposition  to  it. 
The  report  to  the  King  was  unfavorable  and  the 
petition  was  rejected. 

It  will  be  perhaps  as  well  to  trace  at  this  time  the 
further  history  of  this  matter.  In  1774,  when  still 
another  request  for  a  charter  was  made,  the  concur- 
rence of  the  King,  the  Governor,  and  the  Council 
was  actually  obtained,  but  the  obstinacy  of  the 
King's  Attorney  in  New  York,  who  pigeonholed  it, 
delayed  action  until  the  imminence  of  the  conflict 
with  Great  Britain  turned  the  minds  of  men  in  other 
directions.  It  was  finally  in  1784,  when  the  War  of 
Independence  had  been  won,  that  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  passed  an  act  to  incorporate  the  churches 
af  all  religious  denominations,  allowing  each  of  them 
to  hold  an  estate  of  twelve  hundred  pounds  sterling 
per  annum  gross  revenue.  The  Presbyterians  at  once 
availed  themselves  of  this  law,  appointing  nine  trus- 


30  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

tees,  and  taking  the  name  "The  Corporation  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York." 
To  this  corporation  the  lands  and  buildings  of  the 
church  were  conveyed  by  the  individuals,  who  had 
until  that  time  faithfully  held  and  managed  the 
property.* 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  in  the  building  of 
the  New  Church  no  steps  were  taken  toward  creating 
a  separate  ecclesiastical  organization.  The  so-called 
collegiate  arrangement  by  which  such  a  separation 
was  made  unnecessary,  and  which  continued  for 
forty  years,  should  be  clearly  understood.  The  two 
congregations,  on  Wall  Street  and  on  Beekman 
Street,  respectively,  constituted  one  undivided  church. 
The  ministers  belonged  equally  to  them  both,  and 
preached  alternately  in  the  two  churches  on  Sunday 
mornings.  The  second  Sunday  service  was  held  in 
one  church  one  Sunday,  in  the  other  the  next.  All 
the  elders,  deacons,  and  trustees  were  officers  of  the 
united  congregations.  The  number  of  these  officers 
was  increased  soon  after  the  New  Church  was  built, 
in  order  to  enable  them  to  cover  the  more  extended 
field,  but  even  then  there  was  no  such  person  as  an 
elder  of  the  Wall  Street  Church,  or  a  deacon  of  the 
New  Church:  all  belonged  to  both.  From  the  very 
beginning,  moreover,  there  was  not,  so  far  as  the 
records  show,  the  slightest  indication  that  one  of  the 
congregations  was  in  any  way  inferior  or  subordinate 
to  the  other,  nor  did  there  ever  come  between  them, 
in  any  marked  degree,  the  spirit  of  envy  or  of  the 
selfish  desire  for  power.  The  causes  which  finally 
ended  the  union  lay,  not  in  any  failure  of  Christian 

*  "Manuscript  Hist.,"  pp.  17-20. 


THE  NEW  CHURCH  31 

charity,  but  in  the  inherent  faults  of  the  system.  It 
was  throughout  a  noble  and  truly  Christian  rela- 
tionship, and  it  set  up  an  ideal  which,  as  one  observes 
with  interest,  the  Brick  Church  of  later  years  has 
striven  once  more  to  realize,  not  without  success.* 

The  strong  feeling  of  unity  and  equality  which 
existed,  was  no  doubt  produced  at  the  beginning  by 
the  fact  that  the  congregation  of  the  New  Church 
was  taken  bodily  out  of  the  Wall  Street  congregation. 
There  existed  no  little  nucleus  of  people  who  had 
been  already  worshipping  separately  in  some  sort 
of  makeshift  quarters  at  the  north  end  of  the  town, 
and  for  whom  the  good  people  of  the  Wall  Street 
district  provided  a  decent  place  of  worship.  The 
good  people  of  Wall  Street  themselves  were  the  ones 
who  lacked  adequate  quarters,  and  they  provided  the 
New  Church  for  those  of  their  own  number  who 
found  it  convenient  to  worship  there,  or  who  for  any 
other  reason  were  willing  to  make  the  change. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  even 
from  the  start  there  was  a  certain  observable  differ- 
ence between  the  two  congregations.  For  one  thing, 
tested  by  the  record  of  the  charitable  offerings  made 
from  year  to  year,  the  Wall  Street  congregation  was 
the  wealthier.  This  is  in  part  explained  by  the 
probability  that  the  younger  rather  than  the  older 
portion  of  the  congregation  moved  to  the  New 
Church,  both  because  they  had  not  so  deeply  rooted 
an  affection  for  the  very  walls  and  pews  of  the  old 
building,  and  also  because  the  young  people  prob- 
ably lived  further  uptown,  in  the  region  where  the 
New  Church  stood.     But  there  was  another  differ- 

*  In  its  relation  to  its  tv/o  afTiliated  churches. 


32  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ence  also  which  was  even  more  important  than  that 
of  wealth  or  that  of  age.  Either  by  accident  or,  more 
probably,  by  the  drawing  together  of  congenial  per- 
sons, the  strong  Scotch  and  Irish  element  of  the 
Presbyterian  membership  remained  for  the  most 
part  in  the  older  church,  while  the  New  England 
element  was  largely  transferred  to  Beekman  Street.* 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  difference  of 
origin  amounted  to  a  sharp  demarcation  or  that  the 
diverse  characteristics  of  these  two  classes,  the  con- 
servatism of  the  Scotch-Irish  and  the  more  demo- 
cratic spirit  of  the  New  Englanders,  were  obtrusively 
displayed  by  the  respective  congregations,  but  the 
difference  existed  and  was  bound  to  play  its  part  in 
the  subsequent  history. 

*See"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"p.  153. 


CHAPTER  III 

IN  COLONIAL  DAYS  :    1768-1774 

"The  pews  were  all  immediately  taken,  and  it  soon  became  abundantly  evident 
that  the  erection  of  an  additional  church  was  neither  unnecessary  nor  premature." — 
"Memoirs  of  John  Rodgers,"  p.  182. 

"  As  we  have  therefore  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto  all  men,  especially  unto 
them  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith." — Galalians  6  :  10. 

ON  New  Year's  Day,  1768,  the  congregation 
assembled  in  the  New  Church  for  the  first 
time  and  dedicated  it  to  the  service  of  God. 
Even  the  very  imperfect  picture  of  the  scene  that, 
by  the  help  of  the  records,  rises  to  our  view  is  well 
worth  looking  upon.  Members  of  all  the  represen- 
tative Presbyterian  families  are  in  the  pews — Liv- 
ingstons, Broomes,  McDougals,  Ogilvies,  Quack- 
enbosses.  The  clerk  is  in  his  desk  and  Mr.  Rodgers, 
in  gown  and  bands,  with  his  full,  curled  wig  upon  his 
head,  has  ascended  into  his  lofty  pulpit.  There  he 
offers  the  introductory  prayer,  reads  from  the  Script- 
ures and  gives  out  the  Psalm,  not  improbably  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-second  as  being  most  ap- 
propriate for  this  occasion. 

"  How  did  my  heart  rejoice  to  hear 
My  friends  devoutly  say, 
'In  Zion  let  us  all  appear, 
And  keep  the  solemn  day.*" 

Though  we  must  guess  at  the  Psalm,  we  have  pre- 
cise information  about  the  text  of  the  sermon.     It 

33 


34  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

was  taken  from  Haggai  2  :  7,  "I  will  fill  this  house 
with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  The  theme 
and  spirit  of  the  discourse,  thus  introduced,  cannot 
well  be  mistaken.  Although  both  minister  and  peo- 
ple had  themselves  given  so  freely  and  worked  so 
faithfully  to  build  the  church,  they  were  not  per- 
mitted on  that  day  to  think  of  their  own  powers  or 
their  own  success.  The  house  belonged  to  God  and 
its  only  real  value  must  come  through  His  blessing  it 
and  using  it.  The  occasion  was  in  itself  impressive, 
and  Mr.  Rodgers  was  a  preacher  thoroughly  capable 
of  putting  it  to  its  best  use.  We  are  assured  by  those 
who  listened  to  him  through  many  years  that  his 
sermons  were  remarkable  for  their  effect  upon  his 
hearers.  He  had  the  power  to  stir  the  emotions  as 
well  as  convince  the  mind,  and  commonly,  before  he 
had  concluded,  both  preacher  and  congregation  were 
literally  moved  to  tears.* 

But  while  we  may  well  believe  that  on  that  day 
such  a  preacher  drove  home  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people  his  message  of  the  divine  presence  and  power, 
we  may  believe,  also,  that  as  the  congregation  dis- 
persed after  the  service  they  were  by  no  means  un- 
mindful of  the  leading  part  that  had  been  played  in 
the  creation  of  this  New  Church  by  Mr.  Rodgers 
himself.  They  must  have  felt,  too,  that  its  future 
success  would,  under  God,  depend  in  no  small  meas- 
ure upon  his  continued  energy  and  devotion.  And  we, 
also,  if  we  are  to  understand  the  history  of  the  church, 
must  recognize  at  the  outset  the  power  of  leadership 
in  the  pastor. 

We  have  already  seen  what  manner  of  man  he  was 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  88. 


IN  COLONIAL  DAYS  35 

at  the  time  of  his  call,  endowed  with  a  strong  person- 
ality, one  who  might  be  confidently  expected  to  take 
a  commanding  position  in  all  the  affairs  in  which  he 
was  concerned,  and  to  lead  them  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion. During  his  early  years  in  New  York  he  had 
continued  to  display  these  same  qualities.  His  prompt 
settlement  of  the  difference  regarding  the  manner  of 
opening  divine  worship,  whether  at  clerk's  desk  or 
pulpit,  has  already  been  described,  but  another  anec- 
dote may  be  added  which  reveals  in  a  still  more 
entertaining;  manner  the  forcefulness  with  which  he 
exercised  his  authority. 

It  seems  that  at  one  of  the  services  a  stranger  had 
entered  the  church  and  had  walked  nearly  the  length 
of  the  aisle  without  being  invited  to  a  seat  by  any  of 
those  who  occupied  the  pews.  Mr.  Rodgers,  "from 
his  pulpit  watch-tower,"  as  the  narrator  describes  it, 
saw  clearly  what  had  happened  and  chose  an  unex- 
pected way  to  remedy  it.  His  house-servant,  a  negro, 
was  at  that  time  the  sexton  also.  To  him  Mr.  Rod- 
gers called  out  in  a  loud  voice,  "Frank,  show  the 
gentleman  to  my  seat."  We  are  told  that  this  broad 
hint  to  the  congregation  had  an  instantaneous  effect, 
and  that  so  many  pew  doors  flew  open  as  to  make 
the  stranger's  choice  among  them  almost  embarrass- 
ing. The  noteworthy  thing  about  such  incidents  as 
these  is  not  that  they  should  have  occurred,  but  that 
the  minister  w^ho  ventured  to  make  his  points  in  such 
a  direct  and  unconventional  manner,  carried  his 
congregation  with  him,  as  Mr.  Rodgers  indisputably 
did.  A  weak  man,  acting  so,  would  soon  have  been 
disliked  as  a  meddler,  but  in  Mr.  Rodgers  the  strength 
of  genuine  leadership  was  recognized  by  everybody. 


36  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  his  bold  strokes,  whether  in  great  or  in  small 
matters,  were  justified  by  their  success. 

Even  at  this  early  date  his  reputation  was  by  no 
means  local  only.  On  December  20th,  1768,  he  re- 
ceived from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity,*  at  that  time  a  most  extraordinary 
honor  for  an  American  clergyman,  and  rendered 
doubly  significant  in  his  case  by  the  fact  that  Dr. 
Benjamin  Franklin  had  been  sufiiciently  interested 
to  write  from  London  the  commendatory  letter 
which  led  to  the  granting  of  it.  Dr.  Rodgers  was  at 
this  time  only  forty-one  years  of  age. 

But  we  must  return  to  the  history  of  the  New 
Church  itself.  The  pews,  we  are  told,  were  all  im- 
mediately taken,  showing  that  the  forming  of  a  second 
congregation  had  been  no  mistake.  The  list  of  pew- 
holders  must,  however,  have  included  a  considerable 
number  who  were  not  communicants,  for  we  learn 
from  a  list  of  the  united  congregations,  drawn  up  at 
this  time,  that  there  were  in  all  three  hundred  and 
ninety-one  members,  allowing  only  about  two  hun- 
dred to  each  church. 

It  would  appear  that  the  part  which  the  Christian 
laymen  of  those  days  were  expected  to  take  in  the 
church  activities  was  very  limited,  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  ideal  of  the  present  time.  Besides  living 
Christian  lives,  their  duty  was  practically  confined 
to  attending  public  worship  and  contributing  to  the 
church  collections.  None  of  the  societies,  which  to- 
day form  a  natural  part  of  the  machinery  of  every 

*  The  diploma  conferring  this  degree  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Brick  Church,  having  been  presented  by  Dr.  Rodgers'  great-grandson, 
Mr.  Robertson  Rodgers. 


BRICK  CHURCH  RELICS 

1.  Diploma  from  Edinburgh  University  conferring  degree  of  D.D  on  John  Rodgers.  2.  Pocket  cal- 
endar of  Dr.  Rotigers,  with  entries  of  marriage  fees.  3.  Dr.  Spring's  sand-bo.\  (old-time  substitute 
for  blotting  paper).  4.  Brick  from  the  Brick  Church  on  Beekman  Street.  5.  Breastpin  made  from 
wood  of  the  Beekman  Street  steeple.  6.  Manuscript  of  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Rodgers  at  close  of 
Revolutionary  War.  7.  Sermon-case  of  Dr.  Rodgers,  worked  in  colored  crewels.  8.  Printed  form 
of  sermon  shown  in  No.  6. 


IN  COLONIAL  DAYS  37 

church,  had  then  been  conceived  of,  and  it  is  espe- 
cially noteworthy  that  the  women  had  not  begun  any 
active  or  organized  work,  such  as  in  later  times  has 
so  greatly  added  to  the  church's  usefulness. 

In  a  word,  the  work  of  the  church  was  carried  on 
by  its  officers.  The  ministers,  of  course,  conducted 
the  public  worship  and  administered  the  sacraments; 
and  theirs  for  the  most  part,  was  the  work  of  visiting 
the  families  of  the  parish;  the  session  busied  itself 
especially  with  the  matter  of  church  discipline;  and 
to  the  deacons  was  committed  the  administration  of 
the  benevolences.  We  may  examine  the  work  of  the 
New  Church,  during  the  first  seven  or  eight  years  of 
its  existence,  under  this  threefold  division. 

The  public  services  of  the  church  were  not  many 
in  those  days,  little  more  than  half  as  many  as  at  the 
present  time,  but  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  were 
a  good  deal  longer,  and  that  in  them  a  much  larger 
proportion  of  time  was  devoted  to  the  sermon  or  the 
lecture.  The  congregation  on  Beekman  Street 
assembled  every  Sunday  morning  and  on  alternate 
Sunday  afternoons.  Four  times  in  the  year  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered, 
apparently  on  the  first  Sundays  of  March,  June, 
September  and  December.  It  is  indicative  of  the 
close  personal  oversight  given  to  individual  mem- 
bers in  those  days,  that  in  order  to  partake  of  the 
Communion  it  was  always  necessary  to  obtain  in 
advance  a  sort  of  certificate  of  good  standing.  To 
those  members  who  were  deemed  worthy  of  it — and 
the  judgment  was  a  strict  one — this  certificate  was 
given  in  the  form  of  a  "token,"  evidently  either  a 
metal  voucher  or  a  ticket.     These,  we  know,  were 


38  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

applied  for  in  person  at  a  fixed  time  in  advance,  for 
in  the  session  records  we  read  of  being  "directed  to 
attend  for  receiving  a  token  for  admission  to  the 
Lord's  Supper."  Only  those  who  presented  tokens 
were  allowed  to  receive  the  sacrament. 

We  are  not  informed  whether  at  first  there  were 
week-day  meetings  held  at  the  New  Church.  We 
know  that  among  the  Presb)i;erians  at  this  time 
there  was  a  weekly  class  for  the  instruction  of  chil- 
dren in  the  shorter  catechism,  and  a  public  lecture  on 
the  catechism  on  Thursday  evenings,*  at  which  the 
doctrinal  exposition  was  followed  by  an  earnest 
practical  application.  There  were  also  private  asso- 
ciations for  prayer  established  in  different  localities. 
But  it  is  uncertain  whether  any  of  these  week-day 
meetings  was  at  the  beginning  actually  held  in  the 
New  Church.  We  must  remember  in  this  connec- 
tion that  Beekman  Street  is  but  a  short  distance 
from  Wall  Street. 

By  Dr.  Rodgers  the  work  of  visiting  the  people  of 
the  congregation  was  most  thoroughly  and  persist- 
ently performed.  We  know  already  the  methods  he 
had  employed  in  his  former  parish,  and  these  he 
continued  in  New  York. 

The  work  of  the  minister  and  elders  meeting  as 
the  session  of  the  church  is  very  fully  preserved  in 
the  minutes  of  that  body,  so  that  we  are  able  to  say 

*  This  was  started  by  Dr.  Rodgers  soon  after  coming  to  New  York,  and 
was  originally  intended  for  the  older  children.  It  was  open,  however,  to 
all  who  chose  to  attend,  and  the  room  was  usually  filled  to  overflowing  by 
people  of  all  ages.  Dr.  Rodgers  frequently,  in  later  years,  expressed  his 
belief  that  these  Thursday  evening  lectures  had  been  more  signally  blessed 
to  the  spiritual  benefit  of  his  people  than  any  other  part  of  his  ministra- 
tions.   ("Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  176.) 


IN  COLONIAL  DAYS  39 

with  certainty  what  the  nature  of  it  was  and  how 
thoroughly  it  was  done.  They  regularly  passed  upon 
the  worthiness  of  all  persons  who  desired  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  church  membership,  and  once  a  year  they 
received  and  examined  the  financial  report  of  the 
deacons;  but  the  distinctive  occupation  of  the  ses- 
sion at  this  time  was  the  uncongenial  work  of  church 
discipline,  for,  to  an  extent,  now  utterly  unheard  of, 
the  private  morals  of  the  individual  members  of  the 
church  were  then  investigated,  corrected,  and  con- 
trolled. Delinquents,  or  suspected  persons,  or  per- 
sons accused  of  wrong-doing  by  other  members,  were 
summoned  by  formal  citation  to  appear  at  session 
meeting,  and  there  their  conduct  was  thoroughly 
sifted.  At  times  the  examination  was  so  extended  as 
to  amount  to  a  formal  trial,  witnesses  being  exam- 
ined at  great  length,  and  the  full  testimony  being  re- 
duced to  writing.  Not  only  was  judgment  pro- 
nounced upon  offenders  whose  wrong-doing  had 
already  become  a  public  scandal,  but  the  attempt 
was  made  to  discover  and  check,  before  it  was  too 
late,  every  sort  of  evil  in  the  conduct  of  the  members 
of  the  church.  Not  infrequently,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  investigation  ended  in  a  complete  acquittal,  and 
it  is  apparent  that  in  at  least  some  of  these  cases  the 
accused  person  had  been  most  forward  to  bring  the 
case  before  the  session,  as  a  means  of  silencing  un- 
just or  malicious  attacks,  without  resorting  to  law. 

During  the  period  with  which  we  are  at  present 
occupied  the  session,  it  must  be  remembered,  be- 
longed not  to  the  New  Church  alone,  but  to  the  two 
united  congregations,  and  we  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining   when   the   recorded   acts   of  discipline 


40  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

had  reference  to  New  Church  people.  It  will, 
therefore,  be  best  to  defer  the  more  full  and  serious 
discussion  of  this  part  of  the  church's  life  till  we 
come  to  the  time  when  the  New  Church  had  a  session 
of  its  own.  A  passing  reference  may,  however,  be 
made  to  the  curious  and  sometimes  (in  spite  of  the 
serious  occasion)  amusing  passages  which  the  sub- 
ject of  discipline  has  introduced  into  the  records 
of  this  reverend  body.  It  is  certainly  odd  to  turn 
over  page  after  page  in  which  is  discussed  the  fate  of 
a  red-and-white  handkerchief  supposed  to  have  been 
stolen,  or  of  "a  pair  of  speckled  silk  stockings  of  a 
bluish  cast,"  that  had  similarly  disappeared.  You 
may  read,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  session  clerk, 
the  momentous  history  of  a  certain  blue  cloth  cloak, 
and  how  the  material  of  it  was  afterward  identified 
with  great  certainty,  although  transformed  into  a 
"surtout  and  a  pair  of  trousers."  Or  you  may  even 
learn  at  the  mouth  of  an  apparently  friendly  witness 

that  Mrs.  "loved  a  little  Small  Beer  dashed 

with  Rum  every  Day  to  refresh  Nature  whenever  she 
had  Money  to  buy  it."  And,  by  the  way,  the  verdict 
of  the  session  in  this  particular  case  is  interesting  for 
its  very  moderate  severity.  They  did  not  decide  in 
so  many  words  that  the  accused  had  been  guilty  of 
intemperance,  but  only  went  so  far  as  to  afiirm  that 
she  had  *' given  too  much  grounds  to  suspect  her  of 
too  great  a  fondness  for  Strong  Liquor." 

Upon  the  shoulders  of  the  deacons  rested  the 
whole  work  of  caring  for  the  poor  of  the  church. 
And  this  is  the  same  thing  as  saying  that  they  admin- 
istered the  whole  of  the  church's  benevolences,  for  in 
those  days  no  collections  were  taken  and  no  money 


IN  COLONIAL  DAYS  41 

was  given  through  the  church  for  any  other  benevo- 
lent purpose  than  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  parish 
poor.  The  Church  of  Christ  had  not  yet  awakened 
to  her  duty  and  her  power  as  the  organizer  and  sup- 
porter of  every  sort  of  religious  and  philanthropic 
enterprise. 

The  money  which  the  deacons  distributed  in 
alms  was  received  in  the  offering  made  at  each  Com- 
munion Service,  known  as  "table  money,"  and  also 
in  a  special  offering  taken  in  connection  with  an 
annual  "Charity  Sermon,"  which  in  the  New  Church 
was  preached  usually  on  the  second  Sunday  after- 
noon in  December.  In  this  special  offering  from 
twenty  to  thirty  pounds  sterling  was  given  annually, 
and  about  an  equal  amount  was  received  from  the 
four  communion  offerings  together.*  The  entire 
sum  was  annually  divided  among  the  deacons,  who 
attended  personally  to  the  distribution  of  it,  and 
reported  upon  their  work  to  the  session  at  the  end  of 
the  year. 

One  is  impressed,  in  this  brief  review  of  the  first 
years  of  the  New  Church,  by  the  air  of  maturity  to 
which  it  almost  immediately  attained.  Sharing  as  it 
did  from  the  beginning  the  whole  history  and  experi- 
ence, and  all  the  methods,  customs,  and  traditions  of 
the  older  church  of  which  it  was  an  integral  part,  it 
seems  almost  to  have  had  no  youth.  As  soon  as  the 
stir  which  accompanied  the  provision  of  land  and 
building  had  passed,  the  church  life  appeared  to 
settle  at  once  into  a  placid  middle  age  of  routine  use- 

*  On  one  occasion  at  least  (in  1773),  the  deacons  endeavored  to  increase 
their  ability  to  aid  the  poor  by  investing  in  two  lottery  tickets,  showing 
that  the  moral  objections  to  the  lottery  were  not  felt  by  them  in  that 
period. 


42  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

fulness;  and,  so  far  as  its  own  internal  affairs  were 
concerned,  it  might  have  so  continued  indefinitely. 
But  there  were  outside  factors  to  be  reckoned  with, 
through  which  the  second  period  of  the  New  Church's 
history,  beginning  in  1775,  was  destined  to  be  any- 
thing but  serene  and  uneventful.  Political  affairs, 
even  during  the  seven  years  studied  in  this  chapter, 
were  clearly  moving  toward  a  crisis,  in  which  the 
church  would  inevitably  be  involved,  and  we  must 
now  turn  back  to  study  these  contemporary  events. 


CHAPTER  IV 

"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO":    1752-1775 

"The  early  and  just  alarm  our  country  took  at  the  measures  pursued  by  the 
British  Court  towards  us  strongly  points  us  to  the  watchful  care  of  a  kind  Providence 
over  us." — John  Rodgers,  "The  Divine  Goodness  Displayed  in  the  American 
Revolution,"  p.  12. 

"When  the  centurion  heard  that,  he  went  and  told  the  chief  captain,  saying, 
Take  heed  what  thou  doest:  for  this  man  is  a  Roman.  Then  the  chief  captain  came, 
and  said  unto  him.  Tell  me,  art  thou  a  Roman?  And  he  said.  Yea.  And  the  chief 
captain  answered.  With  a  great  sum  obtained  I  this  freedom.  And  Paul  said.  But 
I  was  free  born."— Acts  22  :  26-28. 

THAT  little  or  nothing  should  have  been  said 
until  now  about  the  affairs  of  the  country 
at  large,  at  the  time  when  the  New  Church 
was  founded  or  during  the  first  years  of  its  existence, 
must  appear  strange  and  perhaps  neglectful;  for  the 
period  was,  of  course,  a  momentous  one.  The  epi- 
sode of  the  Stamp  Act  was  still  fresh  in  men's  minds 
when  the  church  on  Beekman  Street  was  projected, 
and  throughout  the  succeeding  years  the  clouds  of 
threatened  conflict  with  the  mother  country  were 
becoming  more  and  more  ominous.  Indeed,  so  ab- 
sorbing were  the  political  questions  of  the  period  that 
one  can  but  wonder  how  men  at  the  same  time  found 
energy  for  starting  and  maintaining  a  new  church. 
It  can  be  explained  only  on  the  assumption  that 
those  colonial  Presbyterians  did  really  seek  first  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

Why,  then,  it  will  be  asked,  since  political  ques- 
tions were  at  the  time  of  such  absorbing  interest,  has 

43 


44  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

no  mention  of  them  been  made  until  we  have  almost 
reached  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  ?  This 
question  may,  perhaps,  be  best  answered  by  asking 
another.  Why  is  it  that  the  church's  own  records 
maintain  an  almost  unbroken  silence  in  regard  to  the 
momentous  events  of  the  years  before  the  war  ?  For 
such  a  silence  they  do  indeed  maintain.  Between 
1768  and  1775  the  minutes  of  the  session  contain  but 
two  important  references  to  current  politics.  In 
October,  1770,  when  Lord  Dunmore  arrived  from 
England  to  take  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  Prov- 
ince, and  again  in  July,  1771,  when  Governor  Try  on 
succeeded  him,  the  officers  of  the  church  presented 
addresses  of  welcome;  and  in  both  of  them,  it  is 
noticeable,  loyalty  to  King  George  was  most  une- 
quivocally expressed.*  Beyond  these  two  allusions 
the  records  have  nothing  to  say  about  current  events. 

This  silence,  however,  was  very  far  from  indicat- 
ing that  the  members  of  the  church  were  indifferent 
to  the  problems  and  conflicts  of  the  time.  Abundant 
evidence  will  presently  be  adduced  to  show  that  they 
were  not  only  intensely  interested  but  highly  influen- 
tial in  the  events  that  led  to  the  Revolution.  The 
silence  means  rather  that  the  church  itself,  as  an 
institution,  took  no  formal  part  in  the  conflict. 

It  was  neither  necessary  nor  proper  that  it  should 
do  so.  The  principles  of  religion  were  not  involved, 
and  there  were,  of  course,  good  Christians  on  both 

*  For  this  they  have,  by  Tory  sympathizers,  been  accused  of  insin- 
cerity, for  many  of  these  very  men  were  ardent  and  active  patriots,  pledged 
to  resist  every  encroachment  upon  their  Hberties.  But  at  this  time  they 
refused  to  beheve  that  insistence  upon  their  rights  would  end  in  a  break 
with  England.  On  the  contrary,  they  conceived  themselves  more  loyal 
to  the  true  England  than  were  the  so-called  loyalists. 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        45 

sides.  Even  within  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New 
York,  although  the  large  majority  of  its  members 
were  of  the  patriotic  party,  there  were  also  a  number 
who,  by  sympathy  and  conviction,  belonged  to  the 
other  side.  Indeed,  it  was  one  of  the  melancholy  re- 
flections of  the  time  that  in  the  event  of  a  resort  to 
arms,  the  very  men  who  had  joyfully  united  in 
building  the  New  Church  and  who,  under  its  roof,  had 
together  received  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
might  soon  be  fighting  in  opposite  armies.  There  was 
every  reason,  therefore,  why  the  church,  as  a  church, 
should  not  take  active  part  in  the  conflict,  and  why 
its  records  should  make  littk  reference  to  the  events 
which  were  dividing  men  into  two  opposing  camps. 
At  the  same  time  it  was,  of  course,  impossible  that 
a  church,  which  after  all  was  but  a  collection  of  indi- 
viduals, should  preserve  an  actual  and  absolute 
neutrality.  Even  though  the  majority  made  no  at- 
tempt to  commit  the  church  oflScially  to  the  political 
views  which  they  themselves  held  as  individuals, 
there  was  no  disguising  the  fact  that  the  majority 
was  decisive,  or  that  when  a  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion assembled — in  the  New  Church,  for  instance — 
it  was  likely  to  include  leading  spirits  among  the 
New  York  patriots.  It  was  well  known  that  if 
war  came,  and  if  the  British  occupied  New  York, 
as  they  would  certainly  try  to  do,  the  New  Church 
would  be  closed  for  want  of  a  congregation.  When 
we  add  to  this  that  Dr.  Rodgers,  whose  sermons  and 
prayers  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  could  hardly  have 
been  quite  colorless,  was  "an  early  and  decided 
friend    to    American    independence,"  *    it    becomes 

♦"Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  206. 


46  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

evident  that,  to  say  the  least,  the  Tories  who  at- 
tended a  Presbyterian  service  must  have  felt  some- 
what lonely.  There  is  on  record  at  least  one  Tory 
protest  *  against  petitions  offered  by  Dr.  Rodgers  in 
public  worship  in  which,  with  great  distinctness,  he 
asked  a  blessi-ng  upon  the  cause  of  American  liberty. 
He  continued  to  pray  loyally  for  the  King  also,t 
but  that  did  not  affect  his  views,  or  the  views  of  the 
congregation,  on  the  subject  of  American  rights.  In 
short,  that  the  New  Church,  as  a  whole,  belonged 
distinctly  to  the  party  whose  first,  and  controlling 
determination  was  to  uphold  and  maintain  American 
liberties — by  peaceable  methods,  if  possible,  but  by 
force,  if  at  last  no  other  way  were  found — there  was, 
and  could  be,  no  real  doubt. 

Our  immediate  concern,  however,  is  not  with  the 
church  as  a  whole,  but  with  the  individual  Presby- 
terians of  whom  the  church  was  composed.  Our 
present  object  is  to  ascertain  what  was  the  relation  of 
these  individual  church  members  to  the  thouo-hts  and 
doings  of  the  time,  first  during  the  years  that  led  up 
to  the  Revolution,  and  afterward  (in  the  next  chap- 
ter), during  the  Revolution  itself.  For  while  the  per- 
sonal affairs  of  individual  members  would  commonly 
lie  beyond  the  scope  of  this  history,  there  are  special 
reasons  why  an  exception  should  be  made  in  regard 
to  the  service  rendered  by  the  officers  and  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  during  the 
Revolutionary  period.  | 

*  Jones  "N.  Y.  in  Rev.,"  Vol.  II,  p.  4. 

t  "Rivington's  Gazette,"  January  12th,  1775. 

t  It  should  be  noted  that  in  what  follows  no  separation  is  attempted 
between  members  of  the  Wall  Street  and  members  of  the  New  Church 
congregations.     We  possess,  in  fact,  no  means  of  distinguishing  between 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        47 

In  the  first  place,  although,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
institutional  life  of  the  church  completely  ceased 
soon  after  the  war  began,  public  worship  being  per- 
force discontinued  and  the  whole  machinery  of  the 
church's  work  coming  to  a  stand-still — even  the 
building  being  soon  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy — never- 
theless the  church  life  did  not  come  to  an  end.  It 
was  interrupted  only.  It  was  immediately  renewed 
as  soon  as  the  opportunity  arrived.  And  the  contin- 
uity between  the  new  and  the  old  was  preserved  by 
the  fact  that  the  old  members  took  up  again  the  new 
work.  In  them  the  church  had  remained  alive.  In 
them  the  spirit,  which  animated  the  church  both 
before  and  after,  lived  through  the  war;  and  we 
cannot  properly  understand  the  church's  history,  its 
interruption  or  its  renewal,  unless  we  are  more  or 
less  familiar  with  the  record  of  the  men  whose  hearts 
were  her  tabernacle  in  the  period  of  exile. 

But  there  is  a  still  clearer  reason  for  regarding 
their  personal  conduct  in  the  war  as  a  part  of  the 
church's  history.  Their  contemporaries  very  gener- 
ally believed  that  there  was  a  direct  and  vital  con- 
nection between  their  Presbyterian  faith  and  their 
republican  politics.  In  New  York,  in  those  days,  if  a 
man  was  known  to  hold  to  the  one,  it  was  assumed, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  he  held  to  the  other 
also.     In  the  literature  of  the  day,  and  especially 

them,  for  no  separate  lists  are  in  existence.  We  must  rest  content,  there- 
fore, with  the  assumption  that  a  fair  proportion  of  those  whose  service  is 
mentioned  in  the  text  belonged  to  the  New  Church.  Mr.  Daniel  Lord,  in- 
dee  i  (in  the  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  153,),  claims  that  in  the  Revolution  the 
New  Church  was  the  more  democratic  and  "patriotic,"  the  Wall  Street 
Church  the  more  Tory  and  "conservative,"  but  we  possess  no  contem- 
porary evidence  to  prove  this. 


48  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

among  the  Tories,  you  will  frequently  find  the  word 
Presbyterian  used  almost  as  though  it  had  a  dis- 
tinctly political  significance. 

Of  course,  this  means  chiefly  that  in  practical  ex- 
perience Presbyterian  patriots  were  found  to  be 
noticeably  common,  and  also,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  at  least  in  New  York  City,  the  loyalists  were 
observed  to  be  most  often  members  of  the  English 
Church.  For  this  there  may  have  been  some  merely 
superficial  reason,  or  it  may  be  that  the  representa- 
tive form  of  government,  which  is  characteristic  of 
Presbyterianism,  had  exerted  a  direct  influence 
upon  the  political  views  of  its  members.  But  what- 
ever the  cause,  the  fact  is  that  Presbyterians  had 
come  to  be  closely  identified  with  outspoken  devo- 
tion to  colonial  liberty. 

As  early  as  1752,  a  club  had  been  formed  in  New 
York  called  the  Whig  Club,  in  which  we  may  discern 
the  beginnings  of  an  organized  resistance  to  British 
aggression,  and  in  it  the  three  most  prominent  mem- 
bers, William  Livingston,  William  Smith,  the  younger, 
and  John  Morin  Scott, — "the  Triumvirate,"  as  they 
were  called, — besides  others  less  active,  were  closely 
identified  with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Livingston 
was  a  member,  while  Smith  and  Scott,  though  not 
on  the  list  of  communicants,  were  trustees.  Judge 
Jones,  indeed,  the  loyalist  historian,  states  incor- 
rectly that  they  were  all  Presbyterians  by  profession 
and  uses  that  statement  to  explain  their  activities  on 
the  side  of  "anarchy  and  confusion." 

These  three  men  were  all  of  good  family.  The 
name  of  Livingston  was  one  of  the  most  highly 
honored  in  the  province.    William  Smith  was  the  son 


*'THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        49 

of  a  prominent  member  of  the  New  York  bar.* 
John  M.  Scott  was  a  descendant  of  the  baronial 
family  of  the  Scotts  of  Ancram,  Scotland. f  They 
were  all  lawyers,  and  had  been  educated  at  Yale 
College,  another  cause  of  their  perversity,  thinks  the 
loyalist,  who  describes  the  New  Haven  institution  as 
"a  college  remarkable  for  its  persecuting  spirit,  its 
republican  principles,  its  intolerance  in  religion,  and 
its  utter  aversion  to  Bishops  and  all  earthly  Kings." 
"A  nursery  of  sedition,  of  faction,  and  of  republican- 
ism," he  calls  it  elsewhere. J 

These  three  able  men  had  early  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  had  already  won 
a  certain  position  as  leaders,  when  the  Stamp  Act,  in 
1765,  at  length  aroused  the  people  to  decisive  action. 
Livingston,  Smith  and  Scott  were  then  the  organ- 
izers in  New  York  of  the  "Sons  of  Liberty,"  that 
patriotic   society   which    sprang   up    everywhere,   to 

*  Fiske  in  "The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America"  (Vol.  II,  p. 
285),  says:  "This  William  Smith,  son  of  the  accomplished  lawyer  in  the 
Zenger  case,  was  himself  one  of  the  few  literary  men  of  the  province,  the 
author  of  a  'History  of  New  York  to  the  Year  1732,'  which  is  sturdy  and 
racy,  but  so  full  of  partisan  bitterness  that  Smith  himself  admits  it  'de- 
serves not  the  name  of  history.'  As  literature,  however,  it  has  decided 
merits." 

t  The  following  is  from  the  diary  of  John  Adams,  afterward  second 
President  of  the  United  States.    The  date  is  Monday,  August  22d,  1774: 

"This  morning  we  took  Mr.  McDougal  into  our  coach  and  rode  three 
miles  out  of  town  to  Mr.  Morin  Scott's  to  breakfast.  Mr.  Scott  has  an 
elegant  seat  there,  with  Hudson's  River  just  behind  his  house  and  a  rural 
prospect  all  around  him.  Mr.  Scott,  his  lady  and  daughter,  and  her  husband, 
Mr.  Litchfield,  were  dressed  to  receive  us.  We  sat  in  a  fine,  airy  entry  till 
called  into  a  front  room  to  breakfast.  A  more  elegant  breakfast  I  never 
saw, — rich  plate,  a  very  large  silver  coffee-pot,  a  very  large  silver  teapot, 
napkins  of  the  very  finest  materials,  toast  and  bread  and  butter  in  great 
perfection.  After  breakfast  a  plate  of  beautiful  peaches,  another  of  pears, 
and  another  of  plums,  and  a  muskmelon  were  placed  on  the  table." 
("Works  of  John  Adams,"  Vol.  II,  p.  349.) 

X  See  Jones  "N.  Y.  in  Rev.,"  pp.  3,  5. 


50  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

voice  the  instantaneous  opposition  of  the  colonists  to 
the  hated  tax.  So  largely  were  the  Presbyterians 
represented  in  this  organization  that  in  New  York  it 
was  known,  we  are  told,  as  "The  Presbyterian 
Junto."  * 

In  the  opinion  of  their  opponents,  the  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty were  a  group  of  hot-headed  rebels,  eager,  on  the 
slightest  provocation,  to  sever  connections  with  the 
mother  country.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  idea  of 
separation  was,  at  this  time,  repugnant  to  all  of 
them,  and  was  destined,  as  it  gradually  came  to  the 
front,  to  find  them  by  no  means  of  one  opinion. 
The  strikingly  divergent  careers  of  the  three  leaders, 
for  instance,  in  whom  as  Presbyterians  we  are  espe- 
cially interested,  well  illustrates  this. 

Livingston,  together  with  his  ardent  love  of  liberty, 
showed  a  strong  conservative  tendency.  No  one  was 
more  staunch  than  he  in  his  insistence  upon  the 
rights  of  Americans,  but  he  most  decidedly  desired 
to  maintain  those  rights  by  such  means  as  would 
avoid  anything  bordering  upon  revolution.  As 
events  developed,  we  find  him  one  of  those  who  with 
reluctance  perceived  that  loyalty  to  America  and 
loyalty  to  England  were  incompatible;  one  of  those, 
therefore,  whose  leadership,  when  in  the  crisis  he  did 
come  out  strongly  on  the  patriot  side,  was  felt  to  be 
peculiarly  trustworthy,  free  as  it  was  from  the  in- 
fluence of  hasty  passion.  His  honorable  career  in 
New  Jersey,  whither  he  moved  in  1773,  and  where 
he  held  the  offices,  first  of  General  of  Militia  and 
afterward  of  Governor,  was  proof  of  the  confidence 
he  inspired. 

*  Bancroft's  "Hist,  of  the  U.  S.,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  326. 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        51 

William  Smith  was  also  a  conservative.  To  him, 
too,  the  break  with  England,  toward  which  the 
advancing  patriotic  sentiment  gradually  pointed, 
was  a  thing  by  all  means  to  be  avoided.  From  a 
choice  between  the  two  allegiances  he  most  decidedly 
shrank.  But  in  his  case  the  result  of  this  attitude 
was  a  state  of  uncertainty  and  vacillation  at  the 
crucial  moment  which  left  him  in  an  unenviable  po- 
sition. Up  to  a  certain  point,  all  had  gone  well  with 
him.  When  Washington  took  command  in  New 
York  in  April,  1776,  Mr.  Smith  put  his  house  at  the 
General's  disposal,  and  after  the  occupation  of  the 
city  by  the  British  he  was  found  among  the  patriots 
at  some  distance  up  the  Hudson.  But  he  could  not 
remain  in  hearty  sympathy  with  those  who  were  now 
entering  into  open  conflict  with  England.  When 
called  upon  to  take  the  new  oath  of  loyalty,  by  which 
he  would  cease  to  be  a  British  subject,  he  declared 
himself  unable  to  do  so.  He  was  therefore  ordered 
to  leave  the  patriot  territory  and  returned  to  New 
York,  "forced  out  of  his  inglorious  neutrality,"  as 
the  patriots  expressed  it.*  In  their  view,  it  was  no 
time  for  a  nice  balancing  of  opinions.  Though  sus- 
pected in  much  the  same  way  by  some  of  the  loyal- 
ists, he  was  received  by  the  British  authorities  and 
was  later  made  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  and 
after  the  war  he  held  the  same  office  in  Canada.  Yet 
at  the  beginning  of  the  agitation  and,  indeed,  down 
to  the  actual  outbreak  of  the  war,  the  cause  of  liberty 
found  in  him  a  strong  and  able  supporter.  So  long 
as  the  opposition  was  to  the  British  ministry,  but  not 
to  Great  Britain  herself,  he  was  a  willing  leader  in  it. 

*  "Pennsylvania  Packet,"  September  15th. 


52  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

John  Morin  Scott,  on  the  other  hand,  was  natu- 
rally of  a  bolder  and  more  aggressive  temperament 
than  either  Smith  or  Livingston,  and,  as  the  history 
proceeds,  is  found  to  ride  ever  upon  the  crest  of  the 
advancing  wave,  his  eloquent  tongue  putting  courage 
into  many  who  were  waiting  only  for  a  determined 
summons.  We  shall  hear  much  more  of  him  as  we 
proceed. 

From  the  period  of  the  Stamp  Act,  Scott  was  ably 
supported,  and,  indeed,  at  length  surpassed  in  en- 
ergy, by  another  man  of  the  same  type — Alexander 
McDougal.  He,  also,  was  a  Presbyterian,  not  only 
an  attendant  like  Scott,  but  a  communicant;  the 
men  of  three  generations  in  his  family  were  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  his  case  we  have  a 
man  of  poor  and  obscure  origin,  one  whose  sympa- 
thies were  by  experience,  as  well  as  from  conviction, 
with  the  people.  We  are  told  that  he  had  followed 
the  sea  in  his  youth,  starting  as  a  boy  before  the 
mast  and  ending  his  nautical  career  as  captain  of  a 
vessel.  At  a  later  period  he  had  built  up  a  good 
business  as  merchant  in  New  York.  In  short,  he 
was  a  man  of  parts,  and  when  the  occasion  called,  he 
soon  rose  to  the  top.* 

There  were  among  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  at 
first  influential  among  them,  men  still  more  radical, 
such  as  Isaac  Sears;   but  none  of  these  having  been 

*  Of  both  Scott  and  McDougal  John  Adams,  in  his  journal  for  the  year 
1774,  gives  an  estimate.  Of  the  abiHty  of  both  he  speaks  in  high  terms; 
"sensible,"  he  calls  them,  by  which,  no  doubt,  he  means  that  their  political 
views  coincided  more  or  less  closely  with  his  own.  Personally  he  found 
McDougal  the  more  acceptable,  speaking  especially  of  his  openness:  "he 
has  none  of  the  mean  cunning  which  disgraces  so  many  of  my  country- 
men." Of  Scott  he  says,  bluntly,  that  he  was  "not  very  polite."  (John 
Adams  "Works,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  345-347.) 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        53 

Presbyterians,  we  are  not  concerned  to  follow  their 
fortunes.  Scott  and  McDougal,  who  did  represent 
the  Presbyterian  congregations  among  the  more 
ardent  patriots,  were,  moreover,  of  more  importance 
in  the  final  issue.  Though  they,  also,  were  certainly 
passionate  in  their  love  of  liberty,  impatient  of  the 
counsels  of  prudence  and  compromise  and  often  sus- 
picious of  those  who  offered  them,  inclined  to  violent 
utterance,  and  clamorous  for  decisive  action,  they 
did  not,  like  Sears,  for  instance,  get  completely  out  of 
touch  with  the  moderates.  When  at  length  the  issue 
was  clearly  defined,  they  and  the  moderates  were  found 
acting  again  together  as  they  had  at  the  very  outset. 
Meantime  these  more  radical  patriots  played  a  part 
whose  importance  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  except  for  their  constant 
and  spirited  agitation,  and  especially  their  organiz- 
ing of  the  common  people  and  voicing  of  the  popular 
demands,  the  strong  loyalist  element  in  New  York 
might  easily  have  gained  control  of  the  situation. 
The  conservatives,  even  when  they  rejected  the 
definite  proposals  of  "the  Presbyterians,"  were 
themselves  supported  and  emboldened  by  the 
popular  enthusiasm  which  "the  Presbyterians"  had 
aroused. 

The  Stamp  Act  went  into  effect  on  October  31st, 
1765.  The  next  day  the  inhabitants  of  New  York,  at 
the  call  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  came  together  in  in- 
dignant meeting  on  the  Common.  During  the  pre- 
ceding years,  and  still  more  in  the  stirring  years  that 
were  to  follow,  the  Common  *  was  New  York's  rec- 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  open  space  then  included  not  only 
the  present  City  Hall  Park  but  the  site  of  the  post-office. 


54  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ognized  place  of  popular  meeting.  When  there  was 
need  of  giving  expression  either  to  great  indignation 
or  to  great  rejoicing,  the  Common  was  invariably  the 
scene  of  the  demonstration.  It  was  on  the  Common 
that,  at  critical  junctures,  the  will  of  the  people  was 
made  known  in  no  uncertain  tones  to  obstinate  gov- 
ernors or  timid  committees.  In  short,  this  open 
space  at  the  north  end  of  the  city  was,  as  has  been 
well  said,  the  Faneuil  Hall  of  New  York. 

Now,  directly  adjoining  the  Common,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  the  land  which,  in  February,  1766, 
was  secured  for  that  New  Church  whose  history  we 
are  tracing.  The  same  men  who,  out  there  on  the 
Common,  were  making  American  history,  were  here, 
on  the  "Vineyard  lot,"  building  their  Presbyterian 
Church.  It  is  agreeable  to  know  that  the  same 
staunch  qualities  were  going  into  both  enterprises, 
and  to  be  thus  reminded  that  the  patriots  owed  much 
to  their  Presbyterianism  and  the  Presbyterians 
much  to  their  patriotism.  The  walls  of  the  New 
Church,  rising  while  the  American  nation  was  com- 
ing into  existence  across  the  way,  and  her  windows, 
looking  quietly, — one  might  say  approvingly, — at 
the  momentous  events  which  there  ushered  in  the 
Revolution,  may  be  taken  as  fitting  symbols  of  the 
part  which  the  church,  as  a  living  force  in  the  hearts 
of  her  members,  played  in  the  events  of  those  mem- 
orable years. 

One  might  almost  tell  the  rest  of  the  story  of  this 
period  under  the  title  "What  the  New  Church  Saw 
from  the  Edge  of  the  Green."  First,  there  were  the 
battles  about  the  Liberty  Pole,  a  flag-staff  originally 
erected  at  the  great  rejoicing  over  the  Stamp  Act's 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        55 

repeal,  and  designed  to  carry  a  flag  inscribed  "The 
King,  Pitt,  and  Liberty."  That  was  in  June,  1766, 
Every  few  weeks,  from  that  time  on,  the  pole  would 
be  cut  doAvn  by  the  soldiers,  who  acted  as  agents  of 
the  alarmed  and  outraged  loyalists,  and  immedi- 
ately restored  by  the  indomitable  Sons  of  Liberty. 
The  fourth  pole  was  standing  when  the  New  Church 
was  dedicated.  Its  life  was  longer  than  that  of  its 
predecessors,  but  when  it  finally  fell  in  January,  1770, 
the  church  witnessed  a  great  commotion:  three 
thousand  angry  and  determined  citizens  assembled 
on  the  Common  to  devise  means  of  overwhelming 
the  pestilent  soldiery  and  the  still  more  hated  power 
behind  them. 

In  all  these  doings  the  Presbyterians,  McDougal 
and  Scott,  had  been  leaders.  In  February,  1770,  a 
very  foolish  attempt  was  made  by  the  exasperated 
authorities  to  rid  themselves  of  McDougal,  by 
charging  him  with  the  authorship  of  certain  alleged 
libels  that  had  recently  appeared.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  his  popularity  increased  vastly  with 
persecution.  While  imprisoned  in  the  New  Gaol  (on 
the  Common),  he  was  so  besieged  by  callers  that  he 
was  forced,  or  humorously  gave  out  that  he  was 
forced,  to  set  an  hour  for  visits,  namely,  "from  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  till  six."  A  notice  to  this 
effect  was  inserted  in  the  newspapers. 

Because  of  a  similarity  to  the  case  of  John  Wilkes, 
in  England,  among  whose  followers  the  number 
"45"  was  used  as  a  sort  of  watchword,  the  press 
accounts  of  McDougal's  prison  life  were  given  in 
such  arithmetical  form  as  the  following:  "Yesterday, 
the  45th  day  of  the  year,  45  gentlemen  .  .  .  cordial 


56  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

friends  to  Captain  McDougal  and  the  glorious  cause 
of  American  liberty,  went  in  decent  procession  to  the 
New  Gaol,  and  dined  with  him  on  45  pounds  of 
beefsteak,  cut  from  a  bullock  45  months  old,*  and 
with  a  number  of  other  friends,  who  joined  them  in 
the  afternoon,  drank  a  number  of  toasts  expressive, 
not  only  of  the  most  undissembled  loyalty,  but  of  the 
warmest  attachment  to  liberty,  its  renowned  advo- 
cates in  Great  Britain  and  America,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  press."  f  The  prisoner  was  indicted  and 
tried,  but  finally,  for  lack  of  evidence,  was  discharged 
after  an  imprisonment  of  several  months. 

In  1774,  when  the  conflict  was  rapidly  nearing, 
McDougal  still  held  his  place  among  the  mass  of  the 
people  as  hero  and  leader,  but  many  of  the  more  con- 
servative patriots  were  beginning  to  fear  the  effects  of 
his  headlong  enthusiasm.  The  question  had  plainly 
arisen  whether  he  and  others  like  him  should  seize 
the  entire  control  of  the  movement,  or  should  rather 
play  the  part  of  inspirers  and  energizers,  while  the 
helm  was  held  by  more  cautious  hands. 

A  committee  of  fifty  (afterward  fifty-one),  chosen 
by  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  on  May  16th,  1774, 
in  response  to  certain  proposals  from  Boston  on  the 
subject  of  the  importation  tax,  included  men  of  all 
types,  and  in  it  the  contest  between  conservatives  and 
radicals  began  at  once.  The  conservatives,  as  it 
proved,  were  in  the  majority.  When,  in  July,  John 
M.  Scott  and  Alexander  McDougal  were  nominated 
as  delegates  to  the  General  Congress,  they  were  de- 

*  Judge  Jones,  in  his  account  of  this  episode,  gives,  among  the  donations 
to  the  prisoner,  "  From  the  two  Presbyterian  Parsons,  Rodgers  and  Treat, 
45  lbs.  of  candles." 

t  "N.  Y.  Journal,"  February  15th,  1770. 


"THE  PRESBYTERIAN  JUNTO"        57 

feated,  and  the  committee  chose  instead  a  group  of 
moderates  and  loyalists. 

The  people  were  greatly  dissatisfied  with  this,  and 
with  other  acts  of  their  representatives.  On  July  6th 
they  met  in  great  numbers  on  the  Common,  "the 
Great  Meeting  in  the  Fields,"  it  was  afterward 
called.  Alexander  McDougal  presided  and  the 
action  taken  was  an  emphatic  rebuke  to  the  committee 
of  fifty-one.  For  several  days  the  contest  raged, 
but  without  a  decisive  issue  at  that  time.  The  chosen 
delegates,  having  made  a  solemn  profession  in  writing 
of  their  devotion  to  liberty,  were  finally  accepted  by 
the  people;  but  the  real  differences,  which  the  inci- 
dent revealed,  remained  as  a  problem  of  the  future.* 
It  was  no  doubt  wise  that  a  moderate  policy  should, 
at  that  juncture,  prevail,  though  the  protestors  were 
right,  as  events  proved,  in  their  suspicion  that  many 
of  the  moderates  were  men  who,  in  the  last  division, 
would  choose  the  side  of  Great  Britain  against  the 
Colony.  At  the  same  time,  the  best  men  in  the  mod- 
erate party,  and  happily  those  who  gained  and  held 
control  in  it,  were  true  patriots,  seeking  in  their  more 
cautious  way  the  same  great  ends  to  which  Scott 
and  McDougal  and  their  comrades  were  devoting 
themselves  with  noble  and  unselfish  enthusiasm. 

*  Among  the  Presbyterians  who,  at  this  time,  were  active  in  urging 
and  voicing  the  popular  protests  were  McDougal,  Scott,  Joseph  Hallet, 
P.  V.  B.  Livingston,  and  John  Broome.  Mr.  Livingston  is  described  by 
John  Adams,  in  1774,  as  "a  sensible  man  and  a  gentleman.  He  has  been 
in  trade,  is  rich,  and  now  lives  upon  his  income."  ("Works,"  Vol.  II, 
p.  35L) 


CHAPTER  V 

IN  THE  REVOLUTION:  1775-1783 

"Little  did  we  tiiinlc  of  sucli  an  event  as  this,  when  we  began  the  struggle  for  our 
invaded  privileges.  The  growing  injustice  of  the  British  Administration — their 
accumulated  injuries — opened  it  upon  us,  and  forced  us  into  the  measure,  as  the 
only  alternative  to  save  our  oppressed  land.  It  was  this  or  the  most  abject  slavery. 
A  dread  alternative,  indeed,  .  .  .  but  which  an  all-governing  Pro^^dence  has  wisely 
overruled  for  our  salvation." — John  Rodgers,  "The  Divine  Goodness  Displayed  in 
the  American  Revolution,"  p.  11. 

"If  thy  people  go  out  to  battle  against  their  enemy,  whithersoever  thou  shalt 
send  them,  and  shall  pray  unto  the  Lord,  toward  the  city  which  thou  hast  chosen, 
and  toward  the  house  which  I  have  built  for  thy  name;  then  hear  thou  in  heaven 
their  prayer  and  their  supplication,  and  maintain  their  cause." — 1  Kings  8  :  44  f. 

ON  Sunday,  April  23d,  1775,  when  the  stirrmg 
news  from  Lexington  reached  the  city,  -the 
inadequacy  of  the  conservative  policy  be- 
came suddenly  evident  and,  for  a  time,  the  sway  of 
the  ardent  patriots  again  increased.  A  party  of 
them  under  the  leadership,  we  are  told,  of  Peter  R. 
Livingston,  a  Presbyterian,  seized  at  once  upon  a 
sloop  loaded  with  lumber  for  the  barracks  in  Boston 
and  threw  the  cargo  into  the  harbor,  the  people  at 
the  same  time  being  urged  to  arm  themselves  by  an 
attack  upon  the  arsenal.  In  the  meeting  of  His  Maj- 
esty's Council  at  the  house  of  the  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor, that  afternoon,  William  Smith,  of  whom  we 
read  in  the  last  chapter,  took  the  position  that  the 
excitement  then  prevailing  was  general  throughout 
the  city,  and  that  it  was  not  without  due  cause  in  the 
obstinate  injustice  of  the  British  Ministry.     He  op- 

58 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  59 

posed  strongly  the  purpose  of  the  extreme  loyalists  to 
call  out  the  militia  and  read  the  riot  act. 

The  most  definite  evidence,  however,  of  the  re- 
newed influence  of  the  more  pronounced  patriots,  is 
found  in  the  abandonment  of  the  old  "Committee  of 
Fifty-one"  at  this  time,  and  the  selection  by  the  in- 
habitants, on  May  1st,  of  a  new  committee  of  one 
hundred.  The  conservative  element  was  still  strongly 
represented  in  it,  but  the  proportions  of  influence 
had  been  somewhat  changed.  The  committee  de- 
clared its  resolve,  in  the  most  explicit  manner,  to 
stand  or  fall  with  the  liberty  of  the  Colonies,  and  at 
its  first  meeting,  held  without  delay,  a  motion, 
offered  by  Scott  and  seconded  by  McDougal,  was 
passed,  providing  for  an  association  which  should 
engage,  by  all  the  ties  of  religion,  honor,  and  love 
of  country,  to  submit  to  the  Colonial  Congress,  to 
withdraw  support  from  British  troops,  and  at  risk 
of  lives  and  fortunes  to  repel  every  attempt  at  enforc- 
ing taxation  by  Parliament. 

Nine  at  least  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred 
were  Presbyterians,*  and  five  of  these  f  were  among 
the  twenty-two  delegates  selected  to  meet  deputies 
of  the  other  counties  in  the  Provincial  Congress  on 
May  22d.  The  contemporary  loyalist  historian, J 
describing  the  reception  tendered  at  this  time  to  the 
delegates  sent  from  New  England  to  the  second 
Continental  Congress,  as  they  passed  through  New 
York  on  their  way  to  Philadelphia,  speaks  in  the 
bitterest  terms  of  "the  Presbyterian  faction"   who 

*  p.  V.  B.  Livingston,  McDougal,  Scott,  Joseph  Hallet,  Thomas  Smith, 
John  Broome,  Samuel  Broome,  John  Lasher,  John  White, 
t  The  first  five  in  the  above  list. 
J  Judge  Jones.    See  Jones  "N.  Y-  in  Rev," 


60  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

took  the  lead  in  the  matter.  He  gives  a  list  of  them, 
which  includes  their  two  ministers,  Rodgers  and 
Treat,  besides  most  of  the  others  with  whom  we  are 
now  familiar.  He  tells  us  that  the  escorting  com- 
pany of  grenadiers  was  commanded  by  John  Lasher, 
the  Presbyterian  shoemaker  ("of  the  lowest  extrac- 
tion," he  adds)  and  he  ends  by  classing  all  these 
persons  with  "other  fomenters  and  demagogues  of 
rebellion."  Yet  in  spite  of  these  uncomplimentary 
remarks,  it  is  certain  that  these  men  were  now  tak- 
ing more  and  more  a  position  of  command  in  New 
York. 

In  June,  John  Morin  Scott  appeared  in  a  pict- 
uresque incident  not  without  significance.*  The 
British  soldiers,  whose  position  in  New  York  after 
Lexington  was  anything  but  comfortable,  were 
leaving  the  city  by  permission  of  the  Committee  of 
One  Hundred,  when  it  was  observed  that  they  were 
taking  with  them  a  cartload  of  extra  arms.  Marinus 
Willett,  a  patriot,  endeavored  to  stop  them,  on  the 
ground  that  the  committee  had  not  authorized  this 
act,  but  he  found  a  strong  supporter  of  the  soldiers  in 
another  bystander,  no  less  a  person  than  Mr.  Gou- 
verneur  Morris.  At  this  point,  Scott  happened  to 
make  his  appearance,  himself  "an  influential  mem- 
ber of  the  committee,"  says  Willett,  in  his  narrative 
of  the  event,  and  one  "whose  reputation  for  talents 
was  as  great  as  any  in  the  city."  Taking  in  the 
situation  at  a  glance,  he  exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice, 
"  You  are  right,  Willett;  the  committee  have  not  given 
them  permission  to  carry  off  any  spare  arms,"  and  in 
spite  of  Mr.  Morris,  the  wagon  was  turned  into  a 

*  "New  York  in  the  Revolution,"  p.  63. 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  61 

side  street,  while  the  soldiers  proceeded  without  it 
to  the  wharf. 

It  was  a  time  of  curious  confusion  in  which  these 
New  Yorkers  were  then  living.  Regiments  of  sol- 
diers were  being  raised  by  the  colonists  for  a  pur- 
pose that  could  not  be  disguised,  while  the  very 
men  active  in  this  work  claimed,  and  with  per- 
fect sincerity,  that  they  were  loyal  subjects  of  King 
George. 

No  clearer  evidence  of  this  could  be  desired  than 
the  Pastoral  Letter  which  was  issued  by  the  Presby- 
terian General  Assembly,  sitting  at  New  York  about 
a  month  after  the  battle  of  Lexington.  It  deserves 
the  more  a  place  in  this  history  because  Dr.  Rodgers 
served  on  the  committee  of  two  ministers  and  four 
laymen  who  prepared  it.  After  a  long  opening  ex- 
hortation, it  proceeds  to  "offer  a  few  advices  to  the 
societies  under  our  charge,  as  to  their  public  and 
general  conduct." 

"First.  In  carrying  on  this  important  struggle,  let 
every  opportunity  be  taken  to  express  your  attach- 
ment and  respect  to  our  sovereign.  King  George, 
and  to  the  revolution  principles  by  which  his  august 
family  was  seated  on  the  British  throne.  We  rec- 
ommend, indeed,  not  only  allegiance  to  him  from 
duty  and  principle,  as  the  first  magistrate  of  the  em- 
pire, but  esteem  and  reverence  for  the  person  of  the 
prince  who  has  merited  well  of  his  subjects  on  many 
accounts,  and  who  has  probably  been  misled  into 
the  late  and  present  measures  by  those  about  him; 
neither  have  we  any  doubt  that  they  themselves  have 
been  in  a  great  degree  deceived  by  false  information 
from    interested    persons    residing    in   America.      It 


62  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

gives  us  the  greatest  pleasure  to  say,  from  our  own 
certain  knowledge  of  all  belonging  to  our  communion, 
and  from  the  best  means  of  information  of  the  far 
greatest  part  of  all  denominations  in  the  country, 
that  the  present  opposition  to  the  measures  of  admin- 
istration does  not  in  the  least  arise  from  disaffection 
to  the  King  or  a  desire  of  separation  from  the  parent 
state.  .  .  .  We  exhort  you,  therefore,  to  continue 
in  the  same  disposition,  and  not  to  suffer  oppression, 
or  injury  itself,  easily  to  provoke  you  to  anything 
which  may  seem  to  betray  contrary  sentiments.  Let 
it  ever  appear  that  you  only  desire  the  preservation 
and  security  of  those  rights  which  belong  to  you  as 
freemen  and  Britons,  and  that  reconciliation  upon 
these  terms  is  your  most  ardent  desire." 

The  rest  of  this  document,  also,  is  so  clear  an 
exposition  of  the  attitude  of  Presbyterians  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  that  the  quotation  may  properly 
be  extended.    The  letter  proceeds  as  follows: 

"Secondly.  Be  careful  to  maintain  the  union 
which  at  present  subsists  through  all  the  Colonies. 
Nothino;  can  be  more  manifest  than  that  the  success 
of  every  measure  depends  on  its  being  inviolably 
preserved,  and  therefore  we  hope  that  you  will  leave 
nothing  undone  which  can  promote  that  end.  In 
particular,  as  the  Continental  Congress,  now  sitting 
at  Philadelphia,  consists  of  delegates  chosen  in  the 
most  free  and  unbiased  manner  by  the  body  of  the 
people,  let  them  not  only  be  treated  with  respect  and 
encouraged  in  their  difficult  service, — not  only  let 
your  prayers  be  offered  up  to  God  for  his  direction 
in  their  proceedings, — but  adhere  firmly  to  their  res- 
olutions;   and  let  it  be  seen  that  they  are  able  to 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  03 

bring  out  the  whole  strength  of  this  vast  country  to 
carry  them  into  execution.   .  .   . 

"Thirdly.  We  do  earnestly  exhort  and  beseech 
the  societies  under  our  care  to  be  strict  and  vigilant 
in  their  private  government,  and  to  watch  over  the 
morals  of  their  several  members.  It  is  with  the  ut- 
most pleasure  we  remind  you  that  the  last  Conti- 
nental Congress  determined  to  discourage  luxury  in 
living,  public  diversions,  and  gaming  of  all  kinds, 
which  have  so  fatal  an  influence  on  the  morals  of  the 
people.  ...  As  it  has  been  observed  by  many  emi- 
nent writers  that  the  censorial  powder,  which  had  for 
its  object  the  manners  of  the  public  in  the  ancient 
free  states,  was  absolutely  necessary  to  their  contin- 
uance, we  cannot  help  being  of  opinion  that  the  only 
thing  which  we  have  now  to  supply  the  place  of  this 
is  the  religious  discipline  of  the  several  sects  with  re- 
spect to  their  own  members;  so  that  the  denomina- 
tion or  profession  which  shall  take  the  most  effectual 
care  of  the  instruction  of  its  members,  and  maintain 
its  discipline  in  the  fullest  vigor,  will  do  the  most 
essential  service  to  the  whole  body.  .  .  . 

"Fourthly.  We  cannot  but  recommend  and  urge 
in  the  warmest  manner  a  regard  to  order  and  the 
public  peace;  and,  as  in  many  places  during  the 
confusions  that  prevail,  legal  proceedings  have  be- 
come difficult,  it  is  hoped  that  all  persons  will  con- 
scientiously pay  their  just  debts,  and  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power  serve  one  another,  so  that  the  evils 
inseparable  from  a  civil  war  may  not  be  augmented 
by  w^antonness  and  irregularity. 

"Fifthly.  We  think  it  of  importance  at  this  time 
to  recommend  to  all  of  every  rank,  but  especially  to 


64  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

those  who  may  be  called  to  action,  a  spirit  of  hu- 
manity and  mercy.  Every  battle  of  the  warrior  is 
with  confused  noise  and  garments  rolled  in  blood. 
It  is  impossible  to  appeal  to  the  sword  without  being 
exposed  to  many  scenes  of  cruelty  and  slaughter; 
but  it  is  often  observed  that  civil  wars  are  carried  on 
with  a  rancor  and  spirit  of  revenge  much  greater 
than  those  between  independent  states.  The  inju- 
ries received,  or  supposed,  in  civil  wars,  wound  more 
deeply  than  those  of  foreign  enemies.  It  is  there- 
fore the  more  necessary  to  guard  against  this  abuse 
and  recommend  that  meekness  and  gentleness  of 
spirit  which  is  the  noblest  attendant  upon  true 
valor.  That  man  will  fight  most  bravely  who  never 
fights  till  it  is  necessary,  and  who  ceases  to  fight  as 
soon  as  the  necessity  is  over.  .  .  . 

"We  conclude  with  our  most  earnest  prayer  that 
the  God  of  heaven  may  bless  you  in  your  temporal 
and  spiritual  concerns,  and  that  the  present  unnat- 
ural dispute  may  be  speedily  terminated  by  an 
equitable  and  lasting  settlement  on  constitutional 
principles."  *  This  noble  letter  was  dated  May 
22d,  a  Monday.  Six  days  later,  we  may  be  sure,  it 
was  read  from  the  pulpit  of  the  New  Church. 

During  the  summer  of  1775  military  operations, 
we  learn,  continued  to  be  active.  McDougal  was 
now  Colonel  of  a  regiment.  "Colonel"  Lasher  was 
another  Presbyterian  who  had  been  promoted.  His 
battalion  was  reviewed  by  Major-General  Schuyler 
on  July  3d,  "in  the  presence  of  a  very  respectable 
number  of  principal  gentlemen  and  ladies."  It  was 
remarked  that  "they  went  through  the  exercises  and 

*  "Assembly  Digest,"  pp.  480-482. 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  65 

evolutions  with  the  greatest  order,  alertness  and 
decorum."  *  Toward  the  end  of  Auo;ust  some  shots 
were  exchanged  between  His  Majesty's  ship  Asia 
and  this  same  battalion  of  Colonel  Lasher's.  On 
November  15th,  John  Morin  Scott  writes:  '*A11 
business  stagnated;  the  city  half  deserted  for  fear  of 
a  bombardment.  .  .  .  Nothing  from  t'other  side  of 
the  water  but  a  fearful  looking  for  of  wrath.  Our 
continental  petition  most  probably  contemned;  the 
bulk  of  the  nation,  it  is  said,  against  us;  and  a 
bloody  campaign  next  summer.  But  let  us  be  pre- 
pared for  the  worst, — who  can  prize  life  without  lib- 
erty ?    It  is  a  bauble  only  fit  to  be  thrown  away."  f 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  regular  ongoing  of  the 
church  life  was,  by  this  time,  greatly  interrupted. 
Even  in  the  session  records,  usually  reticent  in  re- 
gard to  contemporary  events,  the  state  of  turmoil 
now  becomes  evident.  The  omission  of  one  of  the 
stated  meetings  of  the  session,  for  instance,  is  attrib- 
uted to  "the  confusion  our  city  was  then  in,  by  rea- 
son of  our  public  trouble."  On  the  morning  of  the 
last  Thursday  in  November  (the  day,  as  it  happens, 
which  we  now  celebrate  as  our  day  of  national  Thanks- 
giving) the  people  assembled  in  the  New  Church  to 
observe  a  day  of  prayer  and  fasting  "on  account  of 
the  melancholy  situation  of  our  public  affairs."  A 
few  lines  beyond  this  entry  the  records  stop  short, 
not  to  be  resumed  for  eight  long  years. 

For  a  few  weeks  or  months,  however,  the  church 
life  in  a  measure  continued.  Dr.  Rodgers,  toward 
the  end  of  February,   1776,  removed  his  family  to 

*  Gaines's  Mercury,"  July  17th. 

t  "New  York  City  during  the  American  Revolution." 


66  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

a  place  of  safety  near  the  city,  but  he  himself  went  in 
and  out  as  his  duties  required.  In  April  he  waited 
on  General  Washington,  then  in  New  York  to  pre- 
pare for  its  defence,  and  was  received  with  great  con- 
sideration. The  General,  we  are  told,  "followed 
him  to  the  door,  and  observed  that  his  name  had 
been  mentioned  to  him  in  Philadelphia  ...  as  a 
gentleman  whose  fidelity  to  the  interest  and  liberties 
of  the  country  might  be  relied  on,  and  who  might  be 
capable  of  giving  him  important  information;  and 
added,  'May  I  take  the  liberty.  Sir,  to  apply  to  you, 
with  this  view,  whenever  circumstances  may  render 
it  desirable.?'" 

A  city  preparing  for  a  siege  was,  of  course,  no  place 
for  women  and  children,  and  within  a  few  weeks  after 
this  conversation  a  general  exodus  had  begun.  Be- 
fore long,  none  of  Dr.  Rodgers'  congregation  re- 
mained save  the  men  who  were  on  duty  in  the  pa- 
triot ranks,  and  those  who  had  determined  to  remain 
loyal  to  Great  Britain,  the  latter  constituting  a  very 
y^  small  minority.*  Dr.  Rodgers,  however,  was  not 
left  without  an  occupation.  In  April  he  was  ap- 
pointed chaplain  to  General  Heath's  Brigade,  sta- 
tioned near  Greenwich  Village,  on  Manhattan  Isl- 
and. His  service  continued  through  the  summer 
and  autumn  and  was  prosecuted  with  his  usual 
energy.  After  a  brief  interval  spent  in  Georgia  on 
private  business,  he  was  again  claimed  for  public 
service  as  chaplain  of  the  Convention  of  the  State  of 
New  York  (April,  1777).     Later  he  held  the  same 

*  Among  Presbyterian  loyalists  were  Andrew  Elliot,  Collector  of  the 
Port,  and  later  (1778)  Superintendent  of  Police;  Samuel  Bayard,  Deputy 
Secretary  of  the  Province;   and  James  Jauncey  (a  pewholder). 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  67 

office  in  the  Council  of  Safety  and  in  the  first  Legis- 
lature of  the  State.* 

But  in  valuable  service  to  the  American  cause  the 
minister  was  outdone  by  many  of  his  parishioners. 
Alexander  McDougal,  who  had  been  Colonel  of  the 
first  troops  raised  in  New  York,  was  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral in  1776,  and  Major-General  in  1777.  He  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Long  Island,  White  Plains,  and 
Germantown,  and  served  in  the  New  Jersey  Cam- 
paign. Later  he  had  command  of  important  posts 
on  the  Hudson.  Washington  spoke  of  him  as  *'a 
brave  soldier  and  a  disinterested  patriot."  f  John 
Morin  Scott,  who  had  been,  perhaps,  the  most  influ- 
ential member  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred, 


*  During  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  Dr.  Rodgers,  having  no  public  duty 
to  perform,  spent  his  time  in  such  temporary  pastoral  work  as  offered  it- 
self. After  a  brief  service  in  Sharon,  Conn.,  he  in  1778  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  where  he  continued  as  minister  of  the  church  for 
about  two  years  (see  "Early  History  of  Amenia,"  by  Newton  Reed,  p.  41). 
We  learn  from  the  records  of  "The  Society  in  Amenia  Precinct"  that  Dr. 
Rodgers  received  at  first  fifteen  dollars  a  Sunday  for  his  services,  his 
parishioners  agreeing  "to  pay  the  money  to  him,  or  lay  it  out  for  Provi- 
sions for  him  either  of  which  Doct.  Rogers  Chuses."  Several  months  later 
it  was  voted  "that  this  Society  give  to  Doct.  Roges  10  dollars  per  Sabbath 
during  the  continuance  of  the  State  Act,"  while  a  committee  of  two  was 
appointed  to  collect  provisions  and  "other  necessaries"  for  him.  Still 
later  we  find  one  man  directed  to  "provide  Forage  for  Doct.  Rogers  for  the 
ensuing  year,"  six  men  together  are  to  supply  some  one  hundred  pounds 
of  butter,  while  three  other  individuals  provide  "  1  pig  about  100  lbs, " 
"1  do.  and  a  Beef"  and  "600wt  pork."  In  a  historical  paper  read  in 
Amenia  in  1876  by  Newton  Reed,  Esq.,  the  following  reference  to  Dr. 
Rodgers  appears:  "He  was  very  courteous  and  winning  in  his  manners. 
...  As  an  evidence  that  this  courtly  gentleman  had  the  good  sense  to 
accommodate  himself  to  tl\e  simplicity  of  his  rural  parish,  it  was  told  of 
him  that  he  made  an  afternoon's  visit  with  his  wife  and  daughters,  to  the 
family  of  one  of  his  parishioners,  riding  in  an  ox-cart."  During  the  last 
years  of  the  war  Dr.  Rodgers  performed  pastoral  duties  in  Danbury, 
Conn.,  and  Lamington,  N.  J. 

t  "Writings  of  Washington,"  Vol.  IX,  p.  186. 


68  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

was  equally  prominent  in  the  Provincial  Congress 
and  rendered  important  service  in  drawing  up  the 
state  constitution.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  first 
Brigadier-Generals  in  June,  1776,  and  was  with  the 
army  until  he  became  Secretary  of  State  (1777- 
1779).  It  is  gratifying  to  see  that  when  the  time  of 
action  came,  these  two  men,  noted  at  first  for  an  en- 
thusiasm which  seemed  sheer  recklessness  to  the 
timid,  had  in  reserve  the  wisdom  and  strength  req- 
uisite for  real  leadership.  No  doubt,  moreover,  they 
had  themselves  developed  under  experience.  The 
historian  Bancroft,  speaking  of  the  policy  of  caution 
which  New  York  followed  even  in  the  period  imme- 
diately preceding  active  hostilities,  and  pointing  out 
its  wisdom  from  a  strategic  point  of  view,  affirms 
that  this  policy  was  then  "maintained  alike  by  the 
prudent  and  the  bold;  by  Livingston  and  Jay,  by 
John  Morin  Scott  and  McDougal.'* 

Some  of  the  Presbyterians  rendered  most  distin- 
guished service  as  civil  officers  of  the  new  govern- 
ment. Peter  V.  B.  Livingston  was,  in  1775,  President 
of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  later  Treasurer  of 
the  State.  In  the  former  office  he  was  followed  by 
his  kinsman  and  fellow-church-member,  Peter  R. 
Livingston,  who  was  also  Colonel  of  Militia  from 
1775  to  1780.  Ebenezer  Hazard,  who  had  been 
Postmaster  for  the  district  of  New  York  in  1775, 
served  as  Surveyor-General  of  Post  Offices  of  the 
United  States  from  1777  to  1782  and  was  afterward 
Postmaster-  General . 

But  to  return  to  the  military  branch  of  the  public 
service:  Colonel  Lasher  we  already  know,  (the  shoe- 
maker "of  the  lowest  extraction").     John  Broome 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  69 

was  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Militia.  Nicholas  Ber- 
rian,  Prentice  Bowen,  John  Quackenbos,  and  Jere- 
miah Wool  were  Presbyterians  who  rose  to  the  rank 
of  Captain.  Peter  Vergereau  was  a  Lieutenant.  And 
to  these  must  be  added  the  long  list  of  men  who 
served  in  the  ranks,*  many  of  them  men  of  the  high- 
est standing,  like  Peter  V.  B.  Livingston  and  Eben- 
ezer  Hazard,  whose  civil  offices  have  been  enumer- 
ated above. 

It  would  be  unnecessary,  even  if  practicable,  to 
follow  the  fortunes  of  these  individual  Presbyterians 
through  the  whole  war.  After  the  British  had  taken 
possession  of  New  York,  these  men  were,  of  course, 
scattered  as  the  exigencies  of  the  war  demanded. 
Many  of  them  were  never  to  see  again  the  home  or 
the  church  which  they  had  abandoned  for  freedom's 
sake. 

The  church  building,  meantime,  rooted  on  Man- 
hattan Island,  was  unwillingly  rendering  service  to 
the  enemy.  It  had  escaped  the  disastrous  fire  which 
raged  through  the  city  a  few  nights  after  the  British 
took  possession  and  which  destroyed  the  parsonage, 
but,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  it  had  been  put 
to  secular  uses  by  the  invaders,  and  soon  began  to 

*  The  following  list  includes  only  those  soldiers  whose  identification  aa 
New  York  Presbyterians  seems  practically  certain.  Positive  knowledge 
in  such  a  matter  can  hardly  be  obtained.  The  list  would  be  twice  as  long 
had  less  rigid  tests  been  applied:  Alexander  Anderson,  William  Barber, 
Samuel  Broome,  David  Campbell,  William  Frazier,  William  Gordon, 
Thomas  Graham,  Joseph  Hallet,  Robert  Harpur,  Joseph  Hawkins, 
Ebenezer  Hazard,  William  Inglis,  Thomas  Jackson,  John  King,  James 
Lamb,  Peter  V.  B.  Livingston,  John  McDougal,  John  Michael,  Robert 
Nesbit,  John  North,  Alexander  Patterson,  Joseph  Pierson,  Philip  Pelton, 
Isaac  Slover,  Benjamin  Smith,  Gilbert  Smith,  Melancthon  Smith,  Robert 
Stewart,  WiUiam  Todd,  Daniel  Turner,  Abraham  Van  Gelder,  Nathaniel 
Weekes. 


70  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

show  the  effects  of  rough  treatment.  For  a  time,  we 
are  told,  it  was  made  to  serve  as  a  prison,  but  after- 
ward, and  through  the  greater  part  of  the  war,  it  was 
used  as  a  hospital  for  the  prisoners.  In  this  way  the 
church,  though  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  did,  in  a 
measure,  serve  the  patriot  cause,  but  the  measure 
was,  after  all,  but  scant,  for  the  hospital,  as  de- 
scribed by  one  who  had  experience  of  it,  must 
have  seemed  to  provide  little  more  than  a  roof  to  die 
under. 

The  description  comes  to  us  from  one  Levi  Han- 
ford,  who  had  been  taken  sick  in  late  December, 
1777,  on  one  of  the  prison  ships  in  the  river.  "We 
were  taken,"  he  says,  "to  the  Hospital  in  Dr.  Rod- 
gers'  Brick  Meeting  House  (afterward  Dr.  Spring's), 
near  the  foot  of  the  Park.  From  the  yard  I  carried 
one  end  of  a  bunk,  from  which  some  person  had  just 
died,  into  the  church,  and  got  into  it,  exhausted  and 
overcome.  Wine  and  some  other  things  were  sent  in 
by  our  Government  for  the  sick;  the  British  fur- 
nished nothing.  .  .  .  [The  doctor]  was  an  American 
surgeon  and  a  prisoner, — had  been  taken  out  of 
prison  to  serve  in  the  hospital.  ...  Of  all  places, 
that  was  the  last  to  be  coveted;  disease  and  death 
reigned  there  in  all  their  terrors.  I  have  had  men 
die  by  the  side  of  me  in  the  night,  and  have  seen 
fifteen  dead  bodies  sewed  up  in  their  blankets  and 
laid  in  the  corner  of  the  yard  at  one  time,  the  product 
of  one  twenty-four  hours.  Every  morning  at  eight 
o'clock  the  dead-cart  came,  the  bodies  were  put  in, 
the  men  drew  their  rum,  and  the  cart  was  driven  off 
to  the  trenches."  * 

*  Disosway,  p.  145. 


IN  THE  REVOLUTION  71 

One  attempt  was  made  during  the  war  to  restore 
the  church  to  its  religious  uses.  In  the  fall  of  1780 
the  two  Presbyterian  loyalists,  Elliot,  then  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, and  Smith,  the  Chief  Justice,  started 
a  movement  to  this  effect,  and  proposed  that  Dr. 
Rodgers  be  invited  to  return  to  the  city  and  conduct 
services  in  the  restored  church.  Governor  Robert- 
son promised  his  cooperation  in  this  somewhat  sur- 
prising plan.  That  Dr.  Rodgers  would  have  acqui- 
esced in  it  is  impossible.  We  are  not  surprised  that 
to  most  of  the  loyalists  the  proposal  seemed  as  absurd 
as  it  was  objectionable.  They,  on  their  part,  con- 
sidered the  Presbyterian  minister  "to  be  a  person  of 
rigid  republican  principle,  a  rebellious,  seditious 
preacher,  a  man  who  had  given  more  encouragement 
to  rebellion  by  his  treasonable  harangues  from  the 
pulpit  than  any  other  republican  preacher,  perhaps, 
on  the  continent."  Smith  and  Elliot  knew,  of  course, 
that  these  ferocious  opinions  were  exaggerated 
by  hatred,  and  their  own  proposal  is  a  tribute  to  the 
old  relation  of  confidence  and  esteem  between  pastor 
and  people,  but  they  were,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, unable  to  carry  their  point.  The  most  prac- 
tical difficulty  was  met  in  the  veto  of  Dr.  Booth, 
the  British  Superintendent  of  Hospitals,  who  said 
that  he  could  not  surrender  the  church  unless  pro- 
vided with  its  equivalent  elsewhere.* 

It  is  asserted  that  the  British  Government  paid  a 
rental  for  those  churches  in  New  York  which  were 
seized  and  used  during  the  English  occupation, 
but  it  is  also  admitted  that  the  money  went  no  fur- 
ther than  to  the  barrack-masters.    Certainly  no  com- 

*  Jones  "N.  Y.  in  Rev.,"  Vol.  II,  p.  2. 


72  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

pensation  was  received  by  the  Presbyterians  for  the 
use  of  the  New  Church  or  for  the  damage  done  to  it; 
and  at  the  end  of  the  war  little  more  than  the  shell 
was  left.    Within,  it  was  completely  dismantled. 


CHAPTER  VI 

RESTORATION   AND   PROGRESS:    1783-1808 

"The  Lord  doth  build  up  Jerusalem;  he  gathereth  together  the  outcasts  of 
Israel.  He  healeth  the  broken  in  heart,  and  bindeth  up  their  wounds." — Psalm 
147  :  2  f. 

"  Their  numbers  greatly  reduced  by  death  and  by  permanent  removals  to  the 
country,  the  pecuniary  resources  of  all  of  them  impaired  and  of  many  of  them  ex- 
hausted, both  their  houses  of  worship  in  a  state  Uttle  short  of  complete  ruin,  their 
parsonage  burnt,  and  a  considerable  debt  accumulated  in  consequence  of  their  long 
exclusion  from  the  city — it  may  be  supposed  that  nothing  but  Christian  faith  could 
have  preserved  them  from  total  discouragement." — Samuel  Miller  "Memoirs  of 
John  Rodgers,"  p.  243. 

ON  November  13th,  1783,  nearly  two  weeks 
before  New  York  City  was  finally  evacu- 
ated by  the  British,  the  following  notice 
appeared  in  "The  New  York  Packet  and  the  Ameri- 
can Advertiser:"  *  '*The  Members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Congregation  are  requested,  at  the  desire  of 
some  of  the  late  Trustees,  to  meet  at  the  New  Brick 
Church,  This  Afternoon  at  Four  o'Clock,  to  provide 
means  for  putting  their  Church  in  order  for  Public 
Worship." 

The  New  Church  had  suffered  less  than  the 
building  on  Wall  Street,t  and  it  was,  accordingly, 
chosen  as  the  one  to  be  immediately  repaired.  The 
need  became  increasingly  urgent  after  the  British 
evacuation,   when   large   numbers   of   Presbyterians 

♦  A  semi-weekly  sheet  printed  by  "  Samuel  Loudon,  No.  5,  Water- 
Street,  between  the  Coffee-House  and  the  Old  Slip." 

t  The  latter  building  had  been  used  as  a  barrack  by  the  enemy. 

73 


74  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

returned  to  the  city,  so  that  Dr.  Rodgers  soon  found 
himself  surrounded  by  a  considerable  congregation 
for  whom  no  place  of  worship  was  yet  provided. 

At  this  juncture  an  unexpected  and  most  welcome 
offer  was  made  by  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church.  It 
was  proposed,  in  a  spirit  of  Christian  courtesy,  that 
St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's  chapels  should  be  used 
alternately  by  the  Presbyterians  until  their  own  place 
of  worship  had  been  restored.  The  offer  was  ac- 
cepted and  this  arrangement  continued  from  Novem- 
ber, 1783,  until  the  following  June. 

Thus  is  explained  the  unusual  fact  that  the  ser- 
mon, whose  manuscript  is  still  in  existence,  preached 
by  Dr.  Rodgers  on  the  day  of  Thanksgiving  and 
Prayer,  recommended  by  Congress  and  observed 
throughout  the  United  States  on  December  11th, 
1783,  was  delivered  in  an  Episcopal  church,  St. 
George's,  corner  of  Beekman  and  Cliff  Streets.*  The 
text  was  taken  from  Psalm  126  : 3,  "The  Lord  hath 
done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad,"  and 
the  sermon  is  a  faithful  ascription  of  praise  to  God 
for  all  the  providences  and  mercies  of  the  war. 

It  is  always  interesting  to  see  events  through  the 
eyes  of  a  contemporary,  when  he  is  as  well  qualified 
to  describe  and  estimate  them  as  Dr.  Rodgers  was. 
The  special  evidences  of  the  favor  of  God  which  he 
enumerates  are  certainly  well  chosen.  First,  he  men- 
tions "that  union  which  proved  our  strength  in  the 
day  of  trial,"  and  which  was  so  diflficult  of  attain- 
ment that  men  might  readily  ascribe  it  to  the  benev- 

*  It  was  repeated  by  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke  in  the  present  Brick  Church 
on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  "Evacuation  Day,"  November  25th, 
1883. 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        75 

olent  Intervention  of  God.  He  continues  by  pointing 
out  that  the  first  attack  of  the  enemy  was  providen- 
tially made  "upon  a  place  where  our  greatest  strength 
lay,"  that  throughout  the  war,  and  in  spite  of  war's 
ravages,  there  was  abundance  of  provisions  of  every 
kind,  and  that  the  general  health,  both  in  the  country 
at  large  and  in  the  army,  had,  on  the  whole,  been 
astonishingly  good.  The  choice  of  the  commander- 
in-chief  is  singled  out  as  an  event  peculiarly  indica- 
tive of  the  divine  guidance,  "for,"  says  Dr.  Rodgers, 
"by  his  commanding  address,  exemplary  patience, 
and  invincible  fortitude,  he  encouraged  and  taught 
our  soldiers  to  endure  the  greatest  hardships,  and 
prepared  our  army  for  disbanding,  when  no  other 
man  could  have  done  it."  *  Finally,  the  preacher 
ascribes  to  the  Lord  of  hosts  "the  success  of  our 
arms,"  and  in  a  brief  survey  of  the  war  he  points  out 
the  many  instances  in  which  a  power  greater  than 
man's  might  be  clearly  discerned.  As  he  closes,  he 
paints  contrasting  pictures  of  the  desolations  of  war 
and  the  blessings  of  peace,  which  must  have  been 
most  affecting  to  his  hearers,  and  ends  with  a  sol- 
emn reminder  of  the  serious  evils  existing  in  the 
national  character,  in  part  the  product  of  the  war 

*  The  following  letter,  now  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Rodgers'  great- 
grandson,  Mr.  Robertson  Rodgers,  refers  to  a  copy  of  the  printed  form  of 
this  sermon: 

Philadelpa  5th  May  1784 
Dear  Sir 

The  Thanksgiving  Sermon  which  you  did  me  the  favor  to  send 
me  I  read  with  much  pleasure,  &  pray  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  it,  & 
the  favorable  mention  you  have  been  pleased  to  make  of  me  therein. 
My  compliments  await  Mra  Rogers — With  great  esteem  and  respect 

I  remain  d""  Sir — 
Yr  most  obedt  &  affect  Ser 
Go  Washington 
The  Rev  Doc  Rogers 


76  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  unhappily  surviving  it,  and  reminds  the  people 
that  of  all  the  good  things  now  restored  to  them 
nothing  could  be  compared  in  importance  with  the 
renewed  privileges  and  duties  of  religion.* 

The  repairs  in  the  New  Church  were  accomplished 
at  a  cost  of  thirteen  hundred  pounds  sterling, f  a  large 
sum,  it  was  thought,  but  necessitated  by  the  nigh  price 
of  all  materials  at  that  time.  The  first  service  in  the 
restored  church  was  held  on  June  27th,  1784,  Dr. 
Rodgers  preaching  from  the  text,  "I  was  glad  when 
they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord.'*  It  was  most  encouraging  to  discover  that  the 
demand  for  pews  was  at  once  greater  than  the  sup- 
ply, showing  that  the  Wall  Street  Church  must  also 
be  repaired,  and  this  was  done  in  the  course  of  the 
next  year. 

Fortunately,  a  description  of  the  interior  of  the 
church  on  Beekman  Street,  as  it  looked  after  the 
restoration,  has  come  down  to  us.  Indeed,  with"  the 
help  of  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  whose  diary  happily 
includes  an  account  of  his  visit  to  New  York  in  1787, 
we  are  enabled  to  attend  both  morning  and  evening 
service  on  a  certain  Sunday  in  July  of  that  year, 
which  will  be  much  pleasanter  than  to  examine  the 
empty  church. 

"Attended  public  worship  this  morning,"  says 
Dr.  Cutler,  "at  the  new  brick  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  house  is  large  and  elegant.    The  carvings  within 

*  The  original  manuscript,  from  which  this  abstract  is  taken,  does  not 
correspond,  either  in  form  or  substance,  to  the  sermon  as  afterward 
printed,  except  in  the  most  general  way.  The  published  sermon  is  in 
many  respects  less  forcible  and  less  interesting. 

t  Equivalent  to  between  $3,000  and  $4,000.  The  money  was  raised  by 
Bubscription  through  the  energy  of  Dr.  Rodgers. 


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GROUND-PLAN    OF   THE    BRICK   C'HrilCH    ON    BEEKMAN   STREET 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS       77 

are  rather  plain,  but  very  neat,  and  produce  a  fine 
effect  upon  the  eye.  The  form  of  the  house  is  long, 
and  the  pulpit  near  one  end,  but  not  adjoining  to  the 
wall.  It  is  supported  by  a  single  post,  which  passes 
up  at  the  back  of  the  pulpit,  and  is  crowned  with  the 
sounding-board,  not  more  than  two  feet  above  the 
minister's  head.  At  the  end  of  the  house,  opposite 
to  the  pulpit,  are  two  doors,  which  open  into  two 
long  aisles,  which  extend  the  whole  length  of  the 
house.  The  pews  are  built  on  each  side  of  the  aisles, 
one  tier  of  wall  pews  and  two  tiers  in  the  centre  of 
the  house.*  The  pews  are  long  and  narrow,  having 
only  one  long  seat,  except  that  there  are  two  square 
wall  pews  placed  opposite  to  each  other  near  the 
centre  of  the  side  walls,  with  a  handsome  canopy 
over  them,  supported  by  pillars.  The  floors  of  these 
pews  are  considerably  elevated  above  the  others, 
which  renders  them  very  pleasant.  They  are  called 
the  Governor's  pews,  and  are  occupied  by  strangers. 

*'Dr.  Ewing,  Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadel- 
phia, preached  a  very  pretty  sermon  on  the  advan- 
tages and  excellency  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
congregation  appeared  remarkably  neat  and  rich  in 
their  dress,  but  not  gay.  The  house  was  very  full 
and  exceedingly  attentive. 

"I  was  particularly  pleased  with  the  singing. 
Around  the  large  pillar  which  supports  the  pulpit  is 
a  very  large  circular  pew,  appropriated  to  the  war- 
dens f  of  the  church  and  the  chorister.  In  the  front 
of  this  pew  is  a  little  desk  considerably  elevated. 

*  In  this  Dr.  Cutler's  observation  was  at  fault.  There  was  also  a  middle 
aisle,  and  the  number  of  tiers  or  ranges  of  pews,  as  shown  on  the  still  e.v- 
isting  plans  (see  illustration  opposite  p.  76),  were  six  in  number. 

t  Meaning  the  elders,  and  possibly  the  deacons. 


78  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

When  the  psalm  is  read,  the  chorister  steps  up  into 
this  desk  and  sings  the  first  line.  He  is  then  joined 
in  the  second  line  by  the  whole  congregation — men, 
women,  and  children  seemed  all  to  sing,  almost  with- 
out exception.  The  airs  of  the  tunes  were  sprightly, 
though  not  very  quick ;  the  singing,  notwithstanding 
it  was  performed  by  such  a  mixed  multitude,  was 
soft,  musical,  and  solemn,  and  the  time  well  pre- 
served. There  is  an  orchestra,  but  no  organ.  The 
public  service  was  introduced  by  a  short  prayer, 
reading  the  Scriptures,  and  then  singing ;  but  instead 
of  singing  before  the  sermon,  they  sing,  in  the  morn- 
ing as  well  as  afternoon,  after  the  last  prayer.  As 
soon  as  the  last  singing  is  ended,  the  wardens  go  out 
from  the  large  round  pew,  with  each  a  large  pewter 
platter  in  his  hand,  each  taking  a  tier  of  the  pews 
and  walk  down  the  aisles.  Every  person,  great  and 
small,  puts  into  the  platter  one  copper,  and  no  more. 
This  contribution  is  made  through  the  whole  con- 
gregation in  less  than  three  minutes." 

Having  allowed  Dr.  Cutler  to  give  us  already  so 
much  more  than  a  description  of  the  church  itself, 
we  must  go  with  him  a  paragraph  further  in  order 
to  make  the  picture  of  this  morning  service  com- 
plete, although  the  bearing  of  this  last  item  upon  the 
matter  of  the  church's  architecture  is,  it  must  be 
confessed,  rather  remote.  "I  was  struck  this  morn- 
ing," thus  Dr.  Cutler  continues,  *'with  a  custom  in 
this  city  which  I  had  never  before  heard  of  in  any 
part  of  the  world.  I  observed,  as  I  was  going  to 
church,  six  men,  walking  two  and  two  toward  the 
church,  with  very  large  white  sashes,  which  appeared 
to  be  made  of  fine  Holland,  the  whole  width  and  two 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        79 

or  three  yards  in  length.  They  were  placed  over 
their  right  shoulders,  and  tied  under  their  left  arms 
in  a  very  large  bow,  with  several  yards  of  white  rib- 
bon on  the  top  of  their  shoulders;  a  large  rose, 
formed  of  white  ribbon,  was  placed  on  the  sash.  As 
I  came  up  to  the  yard  of  the  church,  Dr.  Rodgers 
and  Dr.  Ewing  were  just  before  me,  going  into  the 
church,  both  in  their  black  gowns,  but  Dr.  Rodgers 
with  a  large  white  sash,  like  those  of  the  six  men, 
only  that  the  bow  and  rose  of  ribbon  were  black. 
These  sashes,  I  was  informed,  were  given  the  last 
week  at  a  funeral.  They  are  worn  by  the  minister 
and  bearers  to  the  grave,  and  are  always  worn  by 
them  the  next  Sunday,  and  the  bearers  always  walk 
to  and  from  the  church  together.  To  give  these 
sashes  is  a  general  custom  at  the  funeral  of  persons 
of  any  note."  * 

Under  so  agreeable  a  guide,  the  reader,  it  is  hoped, 
will  not  object  to  attending  a  second  service  on  the 
same  day.  For  Dr.  Cutler,  indeed,  it  was  the  third, 
but  inasmuch  as  he  went  in  the  afternoon  to  the  ser- 
vice of  another  denomination,  we  may  reserve  our 
energies  to  accompany  him  in  the  evening.  **  At- 
tended a  lecture,"  he  says,  "at  Dr.  Rodgers'  new 
brick  Presbyterian  Church.  Full  congregation.  Dr. 
Witherspoon,  President  of  the  New  Jersey  College, 
preached.  He  is  an  intolerably  homely  old  Scotch- 
man, and  speaks  the  true  dialect  of  his  country,  ex- 
cept that  his  brogue  borders  on  the  Irish.  He  is  a 
bad  speaker,  has  no  oratory,  and  had  no  notes  be- 
fore him.  His  subject  was  '  Hypocrisy.'  But,  not- 
withstanding the  dryness  of  the  subject  [and]  the  bad- 

*  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  231-234. 


80  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ness  of  his  delivery,  which  required  the  closest  atten- 
tion to  understand  him,  yet  the  correctness  of  his 
style,  the  arrangement  of  his  matter,  and  the  many 
new  ideas  that  he  suggested,  rendered  his  sermon 
very  entertaining.  The  attention  of  the  congregation 
strongly  marked  their  regard  for  good  sense  and  clear 
reasoning,  rather  than  the  mere  show  of  oratory  and 
declamation.  Spent  the  remainder  of  the  evening 
and  supped  with  Mr.  Hazard."  * 

The  heavy  expense  entailed  by  the  restoration  of 
their  buildings  was  partly  offset  by  the  fact  that  the 
Presbyterians,  in  March,  1784,  obtained,  by  petition 
to  the  Corporation  of  the  city,  a  reduction  of  the 
annual  rental  paid  for  the  Beekman  Street  property, 
from  <£40  to  <£21  5  s.,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  back 
rental  for  the  period  of  the  congregation's  exile  from 
the  city,  amounting  to  ,£303,  was  forgiven.  Shortly 
after  this  the  treasury  received  unexpected  aid  from 
another  source.  In  June,  1787,  the  Corporation  of 
Trinity  Church  (which,  as  is  well  known,  held  a  large 
property  from  the  days  before  the  Revolution)  of 
its  own  free  will  and  entirely  unsolicited,  conveyed  to 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York  a  piece 
of  ground  on  Robinson  Street  (now  known  as  Nos. 
3  and  5  Park  Place),  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a 
site  for  the  parsonage  of  the  senior  minister. f     It 

*  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  I,  p.  236. 

t  The  following  are  the  extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  vestry  of 
Trinity  Church,  relating  to  this  matter.  January  6th,  1786.  "The  Board 
considering  that  thier  fellow  citazens  of  the  two  Presbytarian  Congrega- 
tions in  this  City  have  not  convenient  lots  of  ground  whereon  to  build 
dwelling  houses  for  their  respective  senior  pastors.  RESOLVED  that  this 
Corporation  will  grant  a  good  lot  of  ground  to  each  of  the  Presbytarian 
Congregations  in  this  City  for  the  use  of  thier  respective  senior  pastors  for 
the  time  being."     "Also  on  April  6th,  1786,  it  was  "RESOLVED  that  the 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS       81 

was  never  put  to  this  use,  but  the  income  from  the 
property  became  a  part  of  Dr.  Rodgers'  salary.* 

One  other  piece  of  property  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  church  at  this  time  which  deserves  a 
passing  mention,  because,  although  of  no  great 
intrinsic  value,  it  constitutes  to-day  one  of  the  oldest 
treasures  of  the  Brick  Church.  This  is  a  "silver 
bason,"  which  Colonel  Stevens  and  several  other 
gentlemen  presented  to  the  session  in  March,  1791, 
"for  the  use  of  baptizing  children  in  the  New 
Church."  It  was  in  common  use  for  this  purpose 
for  over  a  hundred  years. 

During  the  twenty-five  years  covered  by  this 
chapter,  that  is,  the  period  from  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  till  the  date  of  the  proposal  to 
break  up  the  collegiate  arrangement  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  New  York,  there  was  but  one 
senior  pastor,  Dr.  Rodgers,  whose  honors  increased 
with  his  years;  but  the  position  of  associate  pastor 
was  filled  in  succession  by  several  different  men. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Treat  had  not  returned  to  the  city  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  there  were  reasons  why  the 
session  did  not  desire  that  he  should  do  so.  The 
somewhat  delicate  situation  was  met  by  a  vote  of 
the  congregation  on  July  1st,  1784,  that  they  could 

Rector  be  requested  to  acquaint  the  Pastors  of  the  Presbyterian  Congre- 
gations with  the  intentions  of  this  Corporation  and  that  they  be  requested 
to  agree  on  the  lotts  thier  Corporations  respectively  [will?]  hold  that  deeds 
may  be  prepared  accordingly."  The  two  Presbyterian  congregations  here 
referred  to  were  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York  (including  the 
Wall  Street  and  New  churches)  and  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  on 
Cedar  Street. 

*  In  1803  the  Presbyterian  trustees  made  a  release  in  fee  to  William 
Whyttan  in  perpetuity,  with  rent  reserved  of  $250  a  year  to  be  paid  to 
the  senior  Presbyterian  pastor.  This  is  still  paid.  In  1901  this  property 
was  assessed  at  a  valuation  of  $77,000. 


82  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

at  that  time  support  but  one  minister.  Accordingly 
for  the  year  after  the  restoration  of  the  New  Church, 
Dr.  Rodgers  bore  the  burden  alone.  In  August, 
1785,  however,  Mr.  James  Wilson,  a  Scotchman,  was 
ordained  as  colleague.  Two  and  a  half  years  later, 
when  he  was  forced  to  resign  and  move  to  the  South 
on  account  of  his  health,  he  had  won  the  "sincere 
and  high  esteem"  of  the  church,  and  was  dismissed 
with  regret. 

The  choice  of  his  successor  was  complicated  by 
the  putting  forward  of  two  candidates,  with  the  result 
that  neither  obtained  a  call  and  nearly  two  years' 
time  was  lost  by  the  controversy.  Finally  Mr.  John 
McKnight,  of  Marsh  Creek,  Penn.,  was  called,  and 
entered  upon  his  duties  late  in  1789,  "to  the  entire 
and  high  satisfaction  of  all  parties."*  It  soon  ap- 
peared, however,  that  the  burdens  of  the  position 
would  be  too  great  for  his  strength,  especially  the 
necessity  of  preaching  three  times  each  Sunday,  as 
was  then  the  custom.  Rather  than  lose  his  valued 
services  or  discontinue  the  Sunday  evening  meeting, 

*  The  following  characterization  is  from  a  letter  by  the  Rev.  George 
Duffield,  D.D.,  quoted  in  Sprague's  "Annals,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  374.  "Dr. 
McKnight  was  a  man  of  slender  person,  and  rather  above  the  medium 
height.  His  countenance  indicated  a  considerate  turn  of  mind,  and  at 
least  a  capacity  for  deep  thought.  His  manners  were  graceful  and  digni- 
fied, without  any  attempt  at  the  polish  and  courtier-like  demeanor,  some- 
times assumed  by  popular  and  fashionable  clergymen.  He  was  at  home 
in  all  society,  and  could  adapt  himself  in  his  native  simplicity  of  character 
to  every  variety  of  age,  temper,  and  education.  ...  As  a  preacher  he  was 
calm  and  dispassionate.  Although  there  was  little  variety  in  either  his 
tones  or  his  gestures,  yet  his  delivery  was  far  from  being  dull  or  monoto- 
nous: it  was  well  adapted  to  his  matter,  which  was  generally  a  lucid,  logi- 
cal exhibition  of  some  important  scriptural  truth.  He  was  a  zealous 
asserter  of  the  Calvinistic  faith,  which,  however,  he  chose  to  present  in 
connection  with  a  'thus  saith  the  Lord,'  rather  than  the  subtleties  of 
metaphysics." 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS       83 

as  some  proposed,  it  was  decided  to  call  a  third  minis- 
ter, and  on  June  5th,  1793,  Mr.  Samuel  Miller  became 
co-pastor  with  Dr.  Rodgers  and  Dr.*  McKnight. 
He  was  but  twenty-two  years  of  age  and  is  described 
as  having  "much  more  than  common  advantages  in 
respect  to  personal  appearance.  Of  about  the 
middle  size,  he  was  perfectly  well  proportioned,  with 
a  fine,  intelligent  and  benignant  countenance,  which 
would  not  be  likely  to  pass  unnoticed  in  a  crowd. 
His  manners  were  cultivated  and  graceful  in  a  high 
degree,  uniting  the  polish  of  Chesterfield  with  the 
dignity  and  sincerity  of  a  Christian  minister.  .  .  . 
His  work  on  'Clerical  Manners'  could  never  have 
been  written  by  one  who  was  less  considerate  and 
exact  than  himself,  and  indeed,  but  for  his  exceeding 
modesty,  one  might  almost  suppose  that  in  writing  it 
he  was  taking  his  own  portrait."! 

In  regard  to  his  work  as  a  writer  and  preacher,  we 
are  told  that  "he  had,  from  the  beginning,  an  un- 
commonly polished  style,"  and  that  "there  was  an 
air  of  literary  refinement  pervading  all  his  perform- 
ances, that  excited  general  admiration,  and  wellnigh 
put  criticism  at  defiance. "| 

Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  writing  many  years  later, 
selects  the  word  "accomplished"  as  the  one  best 
fitted  to  characterize  his  preaching,  and  tells  how,  in 
beginning  his  sermon,  he  would  remove  the  Bible 
from  the  desk  to  the  cushion  behind  his  back  and 
speak  with  neither  book  nor  manuscript  before  him. 
From  other  sources  we  learn  that  it  was  his  custom 


*  The  degree  was  conferred  by  Yale  College  in  1791. 
t  Sprague'a  "Annals,"  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  602  /. 
X  Sprague's  "Annals,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  GOO. 


84  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

to  reduce  his  material  to  writing  and  then  memorize 
it.  For  "the  prejudice  against  reading  was  so  great, 
that  it  was  at  the  peril  at  least  of  one's  reputation  as 
a  preacher  that  he  ventured  to  lay  his  manuscript 
before  him.  ...  So  perfectly  distinct  was  [Mr. 
Miller's]  enunciation  that  he  could  be  heard,  without 
effort,  at  the  extremity  of  the  largest  church.  His 
attitudes  in  the  pulpit  were  extremely  dignified, 
though  perhaps  somewhat  precise;  and  his  gesture, 
which  was  never  otherwise  than  appropriate,  was  yet 
not  very  abundant.  .  .  .  He  would  occasionally 
deliver  a  sentence  with  an  air  of  majesty  and  a 
degree  of  unction  that  would  make  it  quite  irresisti- 
ble. I  remember,  for  instance,"  continues  Dr. 
Sprague,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  lively 
description,  "to  have  heard  him  relate  in  a  New 
Year's  sermon  on  the  text,  *  How  old  art  thou  ? '  the 
well-known  anecdote  of  the  Roman  Emperor  ex- 
claiming at  the  close  of  a  day  which  had  gone  to 
waste,  '  Oh,  I  have  lost  a  day ! '  and  it  seemed  scarcely 
possible  that  the  exclamation  should  have  been 
uttered  in  a  way  to  secure  to  it  a  higher  effect."* 

This  description  conveys  to  us  evidently  the 
impression  made  by  Mr.  Miller  in  his  maturity. 
When  he  came  to  New  York  he  was,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, at  the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  a  fact 
pleasantly  suggested  in  the  statement  of  one  of  his 
contemporaries,  that  in  those  days,  although  they 
were  "dressed  in  full  canonicals,  not  omitting  the 
three-cornered  hat,"  they  were  commonly  called 
"the  boy  ministers." 

For  nearly  twenty  years  these  three  clergymen,  Dr. 

*  Sprague's  "Annals,"  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  603  /. 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        85 

Rodgers,  Dr.  McKnight  and  Mr.  Miller,  labored 
side  by  side  in  the  New  and  Wall  Street  churches. 
The  addition  of  the  third  pastor,  in  order  to  lighten 
the  burden,  was  soon  counterbalanced  by  the  opening 
of  a  third  church  on  Rutgers  Street  (in  1798)  to 
supply  the  growing  needs  of  the  northeast  portion 
of  the  city.  In  1805,  however.  Dr.  Philip  Milledoler 
was  called  to  take  special  charge  of  this  third  congre- 
gation, with  the  understanding  that  his  relation  there 
should  continue  in  case  of  a  separation  of  the  churches. 
Thus  the  now  venerable  Dr.  Rodgers  and  his  two 
colleagues  were  left  free  once  more  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  Wall  Street  and  Brick*  Church  congre- 
gations. 

A  brief  review  of  the  work  in  which  they  were  then 
engaged  will  serve  to  acquaint  us  with  the  church 
life  in  these  years.  Besides  the  six  Sunday  services, 
which  they  shared  among  them,  and  the  Thursday 
evening  lecture,  which  Dr.  Rodgers  himself  continued 
to  conduct  until  1799,  there  was  now  begun,  in  a  very 
experimental  way,  a  social  prayer-meeting.  It  met 
at  six  different  churches  in  rotation  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  each  month  "at  candle  lighting,"  but 
gradually  established  itself  as  a  stated  feature  of  the 
life  of  each  church. 

The  regular  offerings  for  the  poor  of  the  parish, 
taken  on  communion  Sundays  and  at  the  time  of  the 
annual  Charity  Sermon  in  December,  were  promptly 
resumed  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  indeed  with  a 
generosity  that  cannot  but  move  us  to  admiration. 
Before  the  New  Church  had  been  repaired,  in  fact 
but  a  month  after  services  were  resumed,  a  charity 

*  For  the  official  adoption  of  this  name  at  this  time  see  pages  26,  27. 


86  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

offering  of  more  than  <£80  was  made,  and  two  months 
later  a  special  offering  of  £75  for  the  city  poor  was 
added.  In  December,  1784,  the  New  Church  people, 
now  worshipping  alone,  made  a  charity  offering  of 
£58y  an  unprecedented  sum.  It  is  evident  that  the 
exaggerated  distress  of  the  time  aroused  them  to 
extra  effort.*  Still  more  remarkable  is  the  fact  that, 
from  this  time  on,  their  offerings  were  maintained  at 
a  considerably  higher  figure  than  formerly.  For  the 
first  six  years  after  the  two  congregations  were  again 
settled  in  their  respective  churches,  the  charity  offer- 
ing at  the  New  Church  was  one-third  larger  than  it 
had  been  for  the  same  period  before  the  war,  and  in 
the  next  decade  (beginning  with  1791)  the  average 
of  the  offering  was  not  only  increased  again,  but  actu- 
ally doubled.  In  some  years  nearly  £100  were  given 
to  this  cause.  In  1801  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
the  sums  begin  to  be  given  in  dollars  and  cents,  the 
old  English  system  having  continued  up  to  that  time. 
The  offerings  for  the  first  years  of  the  new  century 
ranged  from  $175  to  $225,  a  still  further  advance. f 

*  Dr.  Rodgers,  in  the  sermon  already  described  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  had  strongly  urged  the  church's  responsibility  in  this  direction. 
After  referring  to  the  many  "deserving  citizens  who  have  lost  their  all  in 
this  struggle,"  and  especially  to  "those  who  have  become  widows  and 
fatherless  by  this  great  contest,"  he  says:  "I  most  affectionately  recom- 
mend them  to  the  notice  and  friendship  of  their  more  opulent  fellow-citizens, 
and  the  attention  of  the  public,  not  upon  the  score  of  charity  but  of  jus- 
tice. Can  no  plans  be  fallen  upon  for  employing  such  deserving  members 
of  the  community,  which  is  the  best  method  of  providing  for  them?  And 
can  luxury  and  dissipation,  those  awkward  vices  in  our  present  situation 
(to  give  them  the  softest  name) — can  they  spare  nothing  for  the  supply  of 
the  more  indigent  among  them?  The  approaching  winter  enforces  the 
duty  before  us,  with  an  energy  that  language  fails  to  express."  "Divine 
Goodness  Displayed,"  etc.,  p.  36  /. 

t  It  is  interesting  that  on  at  least  one  occasion  (November,  1787),  in  ad- 
dition to  the  usual  methods  of  relieving  the  needs  of  the  poor,  the  session 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        87 

It  might  be  supposed  that  this  increase  in  the  regu- 
lar benevolence  of  the  church  would  exhaust  the 
purses  of  the  congregation,  but,  as  so  often  happens, 
generosity  grew  by  exercise.  Offerings  for  the  send- 
ing of  missionaries  to  the  frontier  were  made  on  more 
than  one  occasion ;  help  was  given  toward  the  restora- 
tion of  a  church  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  destroyed 
by  fire;  a  collection  was  taken  for  the  Society  for 
the  Relief  of  Poor  Widows  with  Small  Children,* 
and  another  for  the  New  York  Missionary  Society. f 
The  sense  of  a  wider  responsibility  among  the 
churches  was  growing,  and  these  occasional  extra 
offerings  among  the  Presbyterians  were  a  happy 
prophecy  of  the  coming  of  the  new  era. 

In  regard  to  money  required  by  the  church  for  its 
own  expenses,  we  have  an  interesting  note  recorded 
in  1795. 1  "The  only  stated  revenue  of  the  church," 
we  are  told,  "from  which  they  have  been  enabled  to 
support  the  gospel  from  time  to  time,  has  arisen  from 
the  rents  of  their  pews,  in  aid  to  which  they  have 
always  had  and  still  have  a  collection  at  every  sermon 
(a  practice  in  standing  use  among  the  churches  of 
every  denomination  in  the  city).  They  have  been 
obliged  in  four  instances,  when  calling  an  additional 
minister,  to  have  recourse  to  an  annual  subscription 
for  a  few  years,  but  this  practice  is  now  laid  aside." 

voted  that  wood  be  bought  and  stored  for  the  use  of  the  poor  through  the 
winter,  an  early  parallel  to  our  modern  "coal  club." 

*  The  names  of  three  of  the  other  benevolent  institutions  existing  in 
New  York  at  this  time,  in  which  the  Presbyterian  ministers  were  acti  vely 
interested,  will  help  to  show  the  spirit  that  was  now  abroad:  The  Society 
for  the  Relief  of  Distressed  Prisoners,  The  City  Dispensary,  The  Society  for 
Promoting  the  Manumission  of  Slaves. 

t  Founded  in  1796.    Mr.  ^Miller  took  a  great  interest  in  it. 

X  "Manuscript  Hist.,"  p.  25. 


88  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

The  sum  which  was  thus  annually  provided  was  by 
no  means  small.  Dr.  Rodgers,  we  are  told,*  received 
a  salary  of  £700.  Mr.  Miller  was  called  at  a  salary 
of  <£300 ;  and  presumably  Dr.  McKnight  received  the 
same.  Each  church  had,  moreover,  its  own  clerk 
or  chorister,  its  sexton,  etc.,  and  the  annual  expense 
for  repairs  and  maintenance  must  have  been  con- 
siderable. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  development  of  the 
church  work  in  this  period  remains  to  be  described. 
On  May  1st,  1789,  the  Presbyterian  trustees  opened 
a  charity  school  for  the  secular  education  of  the 
poor  children  of  the  parish.  Other  churches  of  the 
city  had  set  the  example  of  supplying,  in  a  measure, 
the  need  of  a  public  school  free  to  all,t  and  whether 
we  consider  their  interest  in  the  cause  of  education 
itself  or  their  desire  to  ensure  religious  training  (in 
connection  with  secular  instruction)  for  the  children 
of  the  poor,  their  endeavor  was  in  every  respect-  an 
admirable  one. 

The  foundation  for  this  important  Presbyterian 
charity  had  been  laid  many  years  before  by  a  legacy 
amounting  to  $750,  left  by  Capt.   Jeremiah  Owen 

*  By  ManasBeh  Cutler  in  1787,  who  adds  that  the  perquisites  amounted 
to  about  ;i^200.    Dr.  Rodgers  was  originally  called  at  a  salary  of  ^^350. 

t  This  important  work  had  not  yet  been  undertaken  by  the  State.  In 
a  sermon  by  Mr.  Miller,  delivered  in  the  New  Church  on  July  4th,  1795, 
"before  the  Mechanic,  Tammany,  and  Democratic  societies,  and  the  Mili- 
tary Officers,"  appears  the  following  note  (page  29):  "The  establishment 
of  public  schools,  and  making  their  support  an  object  of  legislative  atten- 
tion, is  so  plainly  and  intimately  connected  with  the  welfare  of  all  repub- 
lics, that  neither  proof  nor  illustration  on  the  subject  are  necessary.  Of 
such  establishment  the  Eastern  States  have  set  us  an  honorable  and  useful 
example.  The  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  seem  to  be  about 
engaging  in  a  similar  plan.  .  .  .  May  we  yet  see  the  time  when  good  edu- 
cation shall  be  extended  to  every  class  of  citizens," 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        89 

as  a  fund  whose  interest  should  be  applied  annually 
toward  the  instruction  of  poor  children  of  the  congre- 
gation in  reading,  writing,  and  the  use  of  figures.* 

Unhappily,  on  the  ground  that  at  that  time  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  not,  and  could  not  be,  in- 
corporated, Mr.  Gabriel  Ludlow,  the  administrator, 
found  himself  legally  unable  to  pay  over  the  bequest. 
He  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  endeavored,  we 
are  told,  to  persuade  him  that  the  money  might 
properly  be  turned  over  to  them,  or  at  least  used  to 
maintain,  at  their  school,  children  of  Presbyterian 
parents.  But  Mr.  Ludlow,  who  pointedly  declared 
that  he  was  an  honest  man  as  well  as  a  churchman, 
and  that  he  would  fulfil  the  intention  of  Captain 
Owen  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  ability,  under- 
took himself  to  select  needy  Presbyterian  children 
and  place  them  under  the  care  of  Presbyterian  school- 
masters. Thus  he  expended  the  income  of  the  legacy 
for  ten  years,  with  singular  justness  and  fidelity. f 
The  principal  of  the  bequest  subsequently  came  into 
the  church's  possession,  and  after  the  war,  though 
much  diminished  by  the  depreciation  of  the  paper 
currency,  it  was  still  available  for  its  original  pur- 
pose. 

In  1787,  with  a  view  to  providing  more  adequately 
for  this  work  of  education,  a  subscription  was  opened, 
and  the  sum  of  £500,  equal  to  about  $1,250,  was 
realized.  In  the  next  year  a  bequest  amounting  to 
$900  was  made  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  a 
member  of  the  church,  for  the  same  purpose.     The 

♦See  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  167  and  414;  also  "Manuscript  Hist.," 
p.  2a  t  "  Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  168  /. 


90  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

trustees,  acting  with  a  committee  of  the  session,  were 
now  able  with  the  funds  in  hand  to  hire  a  master  and 
open  a  school,  which  they  did  in  1789,  as  has  been 
already  stated.  This  was,  however,  established  in 
temporary  quarters.  The  next  step  was  to  purchase 
a  lot  on  Nassau  Street,  between  Liberty  and  Cedar, 
opposite  the  Middle  Dutch  Church,  and  to  erect 
on  it  a  two-stoiy  brick  building,  measuring  twenty- 
five  by  forty  feet,  and  containing  both  an  ample 
school-room  and  living  apartments  for  the  master 
and  his  family.  Here  fifty  children  were  at  once 
gathered,  both  boys  and  girls.  Their  studies  con- 
sisted not  only  of  the  usual  rudiments,  designated  in 
Captain  Owen's  plan,  but  psalmody  and  the  West- 
minster Shorter  Catechism.  The  minister  and  a 
committee  of  the  trustees  visited  the  school  once  in 
every  quarter  and  the  proficiency  of  the  scholars  was 
carefully  noted. 

Although  the  special  funds  referred  to  above  'had 
made  possible  the  establishment  of  this  institution, 
they  were  far  from  adequate  to  pay  the  annual 
running  expenses.  Nor  did  a  legacy  of  <£200  in  1792, 
from  Mr.  James  Leslie,  a  school-master,  supply  the 
deficiency.  The  trustees  were,  indeed,  forced  to 
depend  principally  upon  an  annual  collection  in  each 
of  the  two  churches.  This  was  very  far  from  being 
a  disadvantage,  in  that  it  made  the  school  a  genuine 
and  continuing  part  of  the  church  work.  It  was  thus 
not  merely  a  monument  to  the  generosity  of  an  older 
generation,  but  an  appeal  to  the  support  and  interest 
of  living  men  and  women,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
striking  reminder  that  the  church  was  called  to 
minister  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  as  well 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS       91 

as  to  their  definitely  religious  needs.  We  shall  hear 
more  of  this  enterprise  at  a  later  time. 

It  has  already  become  evident  that,  during  the 
quarter  of  a  century  which  this  chapter  covers,  the 
history  of  the  church  was  quiet  and  uneventful. 
It  was  a  period  suited  to  normal  and  gradual  growth. 
In  particular — contrasting  decidedly  in  this  with  the 
period  of  the  war — there  were  no  external  events 
that  seriously  affected  the  church  life,  either  for  good 
or  for  evil.  To  this,  however,  one  exception  must 
be  made.  The  church  life  must  have  been  affected 
not  a  little  by  the  dreadful  epidemics  which  persist- 
ently ravaged  the  city.  It  is  hard  to  realize  nowadays 
that  in  the  period  under  discussion  New  York  stood 
in  constant  terror  of  plague  and  pestilence,  and  that 
sometimes  year  after  year  the  scourge  returned  in 
spite  of  all  attempt  at  prevention.  In  1791,  in  1795, 
and  especially  in  1798  yellow  fever  carried  off  great 
numbers  of  the  inhabitants.  No  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  perished  in  the  last  named  year.  Again  in 
1803  and  1804  the  prevalence  of  the  plague  w^as  great 
enough  to  interrupt  seriously  the  work  of  the  church 
and  to  cause  undisguised  alarm. 

These  occurrences  must  have  affected  greatly  not 
only  the  number  of  members,  but  the  whole  religious 
temper  of  the  church.  Considered,  as  they  were,  to 
be  more  or  less  directly  an  indication  of  divine  dis- 
pleasure, these  visitations  had  a  very  important  rela- 
tion to  the  religious  experience  of  many  people. 
Mr.  Miller,  who,  as  Dr.  Rodgers  aged,  took  the  lead 
in  the  church,  makes  this  evident  in  several  sermons 
that  have  come  down  to  us.     He  himself,  faithful  to 


92  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

his  trust,  remained  in  the  city  throughout  the  whole 
of  "that  melancholy  season"  in  1798,  preaching 
every  Sunday  to  his  trembling  fellow-citizens;  and 
his  sermon,  delivered  early  in  the  following  year,  "On 
the  Removal  of  a  Malignant  and  Mortal  Disease," 
gives  us  a  vivid  impression  of  the  experience  and  of  its 
appeal  to  the  conscience  of  religious  people. 

"There  are  probably  few  cases,"  said  Mr.  Miller, 
"in  which  we  feel  ourselves  more  completely  helpless, 
and  more  entirely  in  the  hands  of  God,  than  when  he 
sends  forth  pestilence,  as  a  messenger  of  his  wrath 
to  chastise  a  guilty  society.  .  .  .  Then  it  is,  if  ever, 
that  human  pride  bows  its  head:  then,  if  ever,  that 
the  incorrigible  infidel  thinks,  for  a  moment,  of  a 
God,  of  Providence,  and  of  prayer.  Have  you  for- 
gotten, my  brethren,  that  such  was  lately  our  situa- 
tion ?  .  .  ,  Have  you  forgotten  those  gloomy  days, 
when  scarcely  any  sound  was  heard  but  the  voice  of 
mourning  and  death  ?  .  .  .  Have  you  forgotten  the 
vows  which  you  made,  and  the  resolutions  which  you 
formed  in  those  serious  and  solemn  hours  ?  The 
badges  of  mourning  which  I  see  before  me  bring  to 
my  remembrance  a  husband  or  a  wife,  a  parent  or  a 
child,  a  brother  or  a  sister,  recently  torn  from  your 
embraces  and  consigned  to  the  insatiable  tomb." 
With  an  exuberant  rhetoric,  which  these  brief  excerpts 
but  faintly  suggest,  the  hearers  were  led  to  acknowl- 
edge their  unspeakable  gratitude  to  God  for  his  deliv- 
erance. "Some  he  saved  by  providing  a  place  of 
refuge,  where  the  salubrious  breeze  and  the  hospitable 
board  sustained  them  till  the  evil  was  past;  while 
others  were  preserved,  though  walking  in  the  midst 
of  the  devouring  poison,  to  discharge  the  duties  of 


RESTORATION  AND  PROGRESS        93 

benevolence  and  humanity.  .  .  .  When  the  sur- 
vivors were  helpless,  and  apprehended  a  devastation 
still  more  awful,  he  appeared  to  stay  the  plague.  .  .  . 
But  let  all  your  thanksgivings  be  mingled  with 
humility,  and  all  your  joy  tempered  with  the  recollec- 
tion, that  sinful  beings  are  continually  exposed  to 
wrath  and  chastisement.  ...  It  becomes  us  to  trem- 
ble lest  we  should  be  again  visited  by  a  similar,  or  a 
more  dreadful  calamity.  ...  If  I  am  not  deceived, 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  informs  us  that  the  days  in 
which  we  live  are  the  'last  days.'  .  .  .  Such  a  general 
derangement  in  the  political  and  moral  world  has 
not,  probably,  existed  since  the  antediluvian  scenes 
of  depravity.  .  .  .  When  I  look  round  this  populous 
city,  which  was,  a  few  weeks  since,  clothed  in  mourn- 
ing, and  contemplate  the  criminal  dissipation  and 
the  various  forms  of  wickedness  which  have  so  soon 
taken  the  place  of  those  gloomy  scenes,  I  am  con- 
strained, with  anxious  dread,  to  ask,  'Shall  not  God 
be  avenged  on  such  a  people  as  this  .5^'  .  .  .  Do  not 
hastily  imagine,  from  this  strain  of  address,  that  .  .  . 
it  would  be  my  w^ish  to  see  every  innocent  amusement 
discarded.  .  .  .  But  do  we  see  no  other  than  inno- 
cent amusements  prevailing  around  us  ?  Are  the 
lewdness,  the  blasphemy,  the  gaming,  the  unprinci- 
pled speculation,  the  contempt  of  Christian  duties, 
and  the  violation  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  so  mourn- 
fully prevalent  in  our  city  and  land — are  these 
innocent  ?  Then  were  the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah innocent.  Then  are  the  impious  orgies  of 
infernal  spirits  harmless  in  the  sight  of  God." 

It   is   perhaps   almost   unfair   thus   to   subject   an 
eighteenth-century  discourse  to  the  criticism   of   an 


94  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

age  which  in  its  literary  taste  and  the  spirit  of  its  re- 
ligion is  very  materially  different.  But  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  Mr.  Miller's  *  sermon  was  in  its  day 
impressive  and  capable  of  stirring  the  most  serious 
emotions  in  his  hearers.  The  quotation  that  has 
been  made  from  it  is  indeed  valuable,  not  only  for 
the  outward  picture  which  it  aids  us  to  form  of  a 
tragic  episode  in  the  city's  life,  but  for  the  insight 
which  it  gives  us  into  the  religious  condition  of  the 
period,  and  the  means  which  the  Christian  Church, 
and  in  particular  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York,  was  using  at  that  time  for  the  conversion  of 
sinners  and  the  revival  of  true  religion. 

*  He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.,  in  1804,  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  of  which  he  was  a  graduate. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SENIOR  PASTOR 


"If  solid  and  respectable  talents,  if  acquirements  which  enabled  him  to  act  his 
part  in  various  important  stations  with  uniform  honor,  if  patriarchal  dignity,  if  sound 
practical  wisdom,  and  a  long  life  of  eminent  usefulness,  be  worthy  of  grateful  re- 
membrance and  of  respectful  imitation,  then  the  life  of  Dr.  Rodgers  is  worthy  of 
being  written  and  perused." — Samuel  Miller,  "Memoirs  of  John  Rodgers,"  p.  11. 

"I  will  give  you  pastors  according  to  mine  heart,  which  shall  feed  you  with 
knowledge  and  understanding." — Jeremiah  3  :  15. 


BY  the  beginning  of  the  new  century  Dr.  Rodgers, 
as  has  been  already  intimated,  was  beginning 
to  feel  his  age.  He  had  now  served  the 
church  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  in  spite  of  the  great 
growth  during  that  period  and  the  many  other  able 
men,  both  clergy  and  laymen,  who  had  contributed 
to  the  church's  welfare  and  progress,  the  impress 
of  the  personality  of  Dr.  Rodgers  upon  the  whole 
history  was  unmistakable.  The  record  of  the  years 
to  which  the  last  chapter  was  devoted  would  be  like 
a  watch  without  the  mainspring,  unless  the  senior 
pastor  were  given  his  place  in  the  middle  of  the 
scene.  The  picture  presented  at  the  beginning  of 
this  history,  of  the  "new  minister"  just  entering 
upon  his  city  pastorate,  must  now  be  completed  by  a 
description  of  the  well-known  New  York  divine, 
whose  work  is  firmly  established  and  whose  position 
as  a  religious  leader  is  now  secure. 

And,  first,  let  us  take  a  somewhat  casual  view  of 

95 


96  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

him  as  he  appeared  to  the  outward  eye  and  upon 
short  acquaintance.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  in  whose 
company  we  have  already  attended  the  church,  will 
now  introduce  us  to  the  parsonage.  The  date  is 
July  7th,  1787,  a  Saturday.  "Waited  on  Dr. 
Rodgers,"  says  our  escort,  "and  drank  tea  in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Ewing,  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  several 
other  clergymen.  The  Doctor  urged  me  exceedingly 
to  preach  for  him,  at  least  a  part  of  the  day,  on 
Sunday;  but  as  the  two  Presidents*  were  in  town, 
and  I  had  just  come  off  a  long  journey,  prevailed 
on  him  to  excuse  me."f 

This  cannot  be  regarded  as  more  than  a  formal 
introduction,  but  on  the  following  Monday  we  be- 
come a  little  more  intimate.  "Dined  at  Dr.  Rodg- 
ers'," continues  the  journal  at  that  point,  "in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Witherspoon,  Dr.  Ewing,  Dr.  Mc- 
Courtland  of  Newark,  Mr.  Wilson,  colleague  with 
Dr.  Rodgers,  and  two  other  gentlemen  from  the 
Southward,  whose  names  I  do  not  recollect.  It 
seemed  like  a  ministers'  meeting.  They  appeared 
to  be  much  of  gentlemen,  and  I  must  do  them  the 
justice  to  say,  I  was  treated  with  particular  marks  of 
attention,  notwithstanding  my  being  a  New  England 
man.  Dr.  Rodgers  is  certainly  the  most  accom- 
plished gentleman,  for  a  clergyman,  not  to  except 
even  Dr.  Cooper,  that  I  have  ever  been  acquainted 
with,"  J  and  here  we  are  presented  at  once  to  a 
characteristic  that  must  always  have  counted  much 
in  the  first  impression  of  those  who  came  into  Dr. 

*  Ewing,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Witherspoon,  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey. 

t  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc..  Vol.  I,  p.  231. 
t  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  236  /. 


THE  SENIOR  PASTOR  97 

Rodgers'  presence,  "the  peculiar  and  uniform  dignity 
of  his  manners."*  He  was  plainly  a  clergyman  of 
the  old  school,  conscious  of  his  position,  grave  in  his 
demeanor,  and  carefully  observant  of  formalities  in 
his  social  intercourse.  There  is  a  tradition  that 
*'the  last  thing  which  he  and  his  wife  always  did 
before  retiring:  for  tlie  night  was  to  salute  each  other 
with  a  bow  and  a  courtesy."  f  This  particular 
statement  is  possibly  an  invention,  but  of  the  reserve 
and  dignity  of  the  senior  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  there  is  abundant  testimony,  and  however 
much  the  faslijion  of  such  formal  manners  may  now 
be  out  of  date,  they  were  in  his  day  highly  admired, 
and  added,  as  Dr.  Miller  says,  to  his  reputation  and 
to  his  usefulness  as  a  Christian  clergyman.  The 
same  writer  adds,  indeed,  that  Dr.  Rodgers  was 
"often  facetious  and  sportive,"  but  these  terms  must 
be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  somewhat  serious 
temperament  of  the  biographer  himself.  In  fact, 
he  adds  that  the  "  sportiveness "  intended  was  of  a 
sort  that  "was  always  remarkable  for  its  taste  and 
dignity." 

It  is  not  diflBcult,  then,  to  see  before  us  Dr.  Rodgers' 
stoutish  figure,  of  medium  height,  walking  with  a 
majestic  step  among  his  neighbors  and  parishioners, 
dressed  in  clothes  that  were  "invariably  neat,  elegant, 
and  spotless."  J    To  this  last  matter  he  always  gave 

*  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  338. 

t  "N.  Y.  in  1789,"  p.  149/. 

t  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  341.  "In  this  respect  he  resembled  his  friend 
and  spiritual  father,  Mr.  Whitefield,  whose  sayings  and  example  on  this 
subject  he  not  infrequently  quoted,  and  who  often  remarked  that  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  in  his  dress  as  well  as  in  everything  else,  ought  to  be 
'without  spot.'"  From  a  letter  of  Samuel  Miller,  quoted  in  Sprague's 
"Annals,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  165. 


98  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

careful  attention.  Washington  Irving,  whose  family 
belonged  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,* 
could  in  his  old  age  still  remember  his  father's  pastor, 
*'old  Dr.  Rodgers  with  his  buzz  wig,  silver-mounted 
cane,  well-polished  shoes,  and  silver  buckles."  f  If 
we  follow  him  into  his  parsonage  at  No.  7  Nassau 
Street,  we  find  that  "he  lives  in  elegant  style  and 
entertains  company  as  genteelly  as  the  first  gentlemen 
of  the  city."  $  We  find,  too,  that,  as  his  position 
deserved,  he  was  on  the  "dinner  and  supper  list"  of 
Mrs.  John  Jay.V 

These  somewhat  trivial  details  and  scraps  of  old 
gossip  will  have  served  a  good  purpose,  if  they  help 
us  to  see  the  man  within  the  saint.  For  to  Dr. 
Rodgers  the  latter  title  might  without  reservation  be 
applied,  and  it  would  be  easy,  in  reading  the  long  list 
of  his  virtues,  to  feel  that  he  had  been  reduced  to  a 
sort  of  abstract  perfection.  But  if  we  have  once 
caught  sight  of  him,  as  it  were,  have  seen  the  man 
himself  and  felt  his  human  relation  to  those  about 
him,  it  will  then  be  a  task  doubly  profitable  to  set 
his  virtues  before  us. 

Dr.  Miller,  his  colleague  and  successor,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  his  biography,  shall  be  our  guide 
in  summing  up  this  good  man's  character  and  work.|| 
And,  first,  let  it  be  said  that  at  all  the  points  where  he 
touched  the  common  life  of  the  world,  or  shared  in 
it,    he   maintained   in   himself   a   notably    Christian 

*  One  of  the  burial  vaults  in  front  of  the  Beekman  Street  Church  be- 
longed to  his  father,  William  Irving. 

t  "Life  and  Times  of  Washington  Irving,"  (1883),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  260. 
t  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  L  p.  237. 
^  "Mem.  Hist  of  N.  Y.,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  99. 
II  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  Chapter  IX. 


.JOHN    liODCKliS 
From  a  paintiny:  in  the  possession  of  the  church 


' 


THE  SENIOR  PASTOR  99 

spirit.  For  instance,  in  the  matter  of  money,  which 
he  did  not  lack,  he  was  chiefly  marked  by  his  generous 
dispersion  of  it,  and  in  spite  of  a  prosperous  career, 
not  interrupted  by  any  special  financial  losses,  he 
succeeded  in  closing  his  earthly  account  with  a 
smaller  balance  than  he  possessed  at  the  time  of  his 
original  settlement  in  New  York.  In  like  manner, 
when  he  shared,  as  he  did,  in  the  social  intercourse  of 
the  city,  he  invariably  brought  with  him  such  a  tone, 
in  conversation  and  behavior,  as  was  worthy  of  his 
calling,  and  demanded  that  others  should  meet  him 
on  the  same  high  plane. 

In  his  personal  character  he  may  best  be  described 
by  a  few  large  single  words,  rather  than  by  much 
comment.  He  was  disinterested:  "few  men  have 
ever  been  more  free  from  private  and  selfish  aims 
than  he."  He  was  upright  in  all  the  dealings  of  a 
life  of  over  eighty  years:  "in  no  one  instance  was 
[his  character]  ever  impeached:"  every  one  who  knew 
him  believed  in  him.  And  he  was  a  man  of  God:  his 
goodness  was  the  fruit  of  a  deep  and  utterly  sincere 
religion:  "he  seemed  never,  for  a  moment,  to  forget 
that  he  was  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ." 

In  his  work  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  he  was  as- 
sisted not  so  much  by  great  genius  or  extraordinary 
powers  as  by  a  "happy  assemblage  of  practical  qual- 
ities, both  of  the  head  and  the  heart,"  and  his  reward 
was  something  better  than  fame,  namely,  practical 
success  in  the  work  he  had  undertaken  to  do.  One 
or  two  of  his  characteristics  deserve  a  special  com- 
ment in  this  connection.  Together  with  a  determined 
and  not  easily  daunted  spirit,  he  possessed  a  certain 
tactfulness,   based   on   a  strong  sense  of  what  was 


100  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

both  fair  and  kind,  which  enabled  him  to  avoid  the 
bitterness  of  controversy  and  strife.  AYhile  most 
positive  in  his  views,  he  was  ever  ready  "to  take  by 
the  hand,  as  Christian  brethren,  all  who  appeared  to 
possess  the  spirit  of  Christ,"  and  he  was  particularly 
reluctant  to  take  upon  himself  the  task  of  directly 
attacking  even  those  with  whom  he  most  disagreed. 
"You  must  excuse  me,"  he  said  on  one  occasion  to 
the  officers  of  his  church,  when  they  urged  him  to  take 
the  errors  of  a  certain  sect  for  the  subject  of  his 
sermon,  "I  cannot  reconcile  it  with  my  sense  either 
of  policy  or  duty  to  oppose  these  people  from  the 
pulpit,  otherwise  than  by  preaching  the  truth  plainly 
and  faithfully.  I  believe  them  to  be  in  error;  but 
let  us  out-preach  them,  out-pray  them,  and  out-live 
them,  and  we  need  not  fear."  * 

One  can  have  but  little  doubt  that  the  preach- 
ing of  such  a  man  would  speak  to  the  mind  and  con- 
science of  his  time.  Its  full  value,  however,  would 
probably  not  be  made  evident  by  giving  samples  of  it 
to  a  modern  congregation,  for  times  have  changed. 
"Whoever  went  to  hear  him  at  any  time,"  says  Dr. 
Miller  with  evident  approval,  "would  be  sure  to  find 
him  dwelling  on  one  or  another  of  the  following 
themes,"  and  he  proceeds  to  give  a  page  of  titles,  such 
as  "Total  Depravity,"  "Sovereign  Election,"  "The 
Divine  Existence  in  a  Trinity  of  Persons."  Even  the 
subjects  which  admit,  and  indeed  invite,  a  practical 
treatment,  are  stated  as  propositions  in  theology. 
This,  however,  was  exactly  the  method  which  the 
congregations  of  that  day  approved  and  expected, 
and  the  question  of  Dr.  Rodgers'  power  as  a  preacher 

♦  Rodgers  Mem. 


THE  SENIOR  PASTOR  101 

of  Christianity  is  not  to  be  determined  by  an  appeal 
to  modern  taste,  but  by  studying  the  historic  church 
which  by  his  preaching  was  built  up  in  the  faith. 

Of  the  manner  of  his  preaching  and  the  impression 
made  by  it  upon  an  intelligent  stranger  we  have  a 
pleasing  glimpse  in  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler's  journal, 
already  quoted.  The  entry  is  as  follows :  "Sunday, 
July  22d.  Attended  public  worship  in  the  morning  at 
the  old  Brick,  in  Wall  Street.*  Dr.  Rodgers  preached. 
He  made  no  use  of  notes,  but  he  arranged  his  subject 
very  well;  gave  us  a  very  pretty  sermon  on  the  first 
part  of  our  Lord's  Prayer.  His  address  is  easy,  soft, 
and  engaging — no  display  of  oratory,  so  called.  His 
style  was  pure,  sentimental,  and  nervous,  put  plain 
and  familiar.     He  made  me  think  of  Dr.  Cooper."  f 

Yet,  after  all,  it  may  well  be  that  preaching  was 
but  a  small  part  of  this  strong  man's  influence.  As 
one  studies  the  record  of  his  life,  one  cannot  but  be 
much  impressed  by  those  passages  which  point  out  his 
patient  faithfulness  in  a  multiplicity  of  occupations. 
One  of  these  passages  is  peculiarly  well  adapted  to 
the  purpose  of  the  present  sketch  of  Dr.  Rodgers' 
character  and  influence ;  for  w^e  are,  of  course,  chiefly 
concerned  here  to  learn  as  far  as  possible  what  it  was 
that  the  Brick  Church  owed  to  the  man  who  brought 

*  This  unexpected  designation  for  the  Wall  Street  Church  is  probably 
due  to  error,  on  the  part  either  of  Dr.  Cutler  or  his  editors. 

t  Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  I,  p.  296.  The  journal  entry  for  the  even- 
ing of  this  same  day  is  worth  quoting  for  its  own  sake.  "Attended  a 
lecture  at  the  Old  Dutch  Church.  The  sermon  was  delivered  in  Dutch 
with  a  great  deal  of  vehemence  and  pathos,  but  whether  it  was  good  or  bad 
I  know  not."  Dr.  Cutler  had  in  the  afternoon  heard  Mr.  Wilson,  the 
Presbyterian  associate,  whom  he  describes  as  methodical,  but  not,  in  his 
judgment,  a  good  preacher,  adding,  however,  by  way  of  compensation  that 
"he  was  very  catholic  in  his  sentiments."  (Cutler's  "Life,"  etc.,  Vol.  I, 
p.  297.) 


102  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

it  into  being  and  guided  it  through  its  first  forty  years, 
and  this  one  paragraph,  about  to  be  quoted,  goes  far 
toward  answering  that  question. 

"In  preaching,  in  catechising,  in  attending  on  the 
sick  and  dying,  in  all  the  arduous  labor  of  disci- 
pline and  government,  and  in  visiting  from  house  to 
house,  he  went  on  with  unceasing  constancy  from 
year  to  year,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his 
ministry.  He  not  only  abounded  in  ministerial 
labors;  but  he  labored  systematically,  uniformly, 
and  with  unwearied  patience.  Difficulties  did  not 
usually  appall  him.  Delays  did  not  discourage  him. 
If  he  were  totally  disappointed  in  the  result  of  his 
exertions  in  one  case,  he  did  not  hastily  conclude  that 
all  subsequent  endeavors  in  similar  cases  would  be 
useless.  .  .  .  Those  who  found  him  busily  engaged 
in  pursuing  a  certain  regular  and  judicious  course  at 
one  period,  would  be  sure  to  find  him  after  a  series 
of  years,  pursuing  with  steady  and  undeviating  steps 
the  same  course."  *  This  is  indeed  a  good  description 
of  "a  wise  master-builder,"  one  who  might  be  trusted 
to  lay  firm  foundations. 

And  now  when  he  was  nearly  eighty  years  of  age, 
and  when  it  might  be  supposed  that  the  time  for  rest 
had  come,  we  find  him  still  setting  an  example  of 
energy  and  faithfulness.  In  1805  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  "  I  am  able,  through  divine  goodness,  to  preach 
once  every  Lord's  Day,  and  to  do  my  full  share  of 
parochial  duty."  This  was  the  spirit  that  controlled 
him  to  the  end. 

*  "  Rodgers  Mem." 


V 


^ 


4' 


4 


4 


1 


5; 


1 


1 


^^^ 


•« 
^ 


i 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SEPARATION:    1809 

"And  Jonathan  said  to  David,  Go  in  peace,  forasmuch  as  we  have  sworn  both  of 
us  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  be  between  me  and  thee,  and  between 
my  seed  and  thy  seed  for  ever.    And  he  arose  and  departed." — 1  Samuel  20  :  42. 

"  No  man,  unquestionably,  who  witnessed  the  scene,  would  ever  again  lift  his 
hand  in  favor  of  associating  several  congregations  under  the  same  pastors." — 
Samuel  Miller,  "Memoirs  of  John  Rodgers,"  p.  274. 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  in  1784,  when  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  was  first 
incorporated,  the  official  title  selected  was  '*The 
Corporation  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
City  of  New  York."  This  choice  was  an  indication, 
we  are  told,*  that  a  second  corporation,  "of  the  New 
Church,"  was  then  thought  to  be  a  possibility.  The 
law  under  which  the  papers  were  taken  out  provided 
that  the  estate  held  by  each  incorporated  religious 
body  must  not  exceed  £1,200  per  annum,  gross 
revenue.  It  was  in  order  to  secure  the  larger  liberty 
which  in  equity  belonged  to  them  as  two  congrega- 
tions that  the  Presbyterians  at  that  time  contemplated 
the  future  possibility  of  a  separation  of  the  financial 
affairs  of  their  two  churches.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  ecclesiastically  they  were  still  one  body,  bound 
together  in  a  so-called  "collegiate  arrangement," 
and  so  they  continued  for  many  a  year.  But  with 
the  practical  financial  difficulty,  which,  as  just  stated, 

♦  "Manuscript  Hist.,"  p.  20. 

103 


104  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

presented  itself  in  1784,  there  appears  the  first  trace 
of  that  tendency  toward  an  entire  separation,  which 
was  to  bear  fruit  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  had 
passed. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  at  that 
early  date  a  complete  separation  was  desired,  even  by 
those  who  saw  the  advantages  of  a  two-fold  financial 
organization.  On  the  contrary,  when,  ten  years  later, 
it  was  definitely  proposed  to  apply  for  the  second 
charter,  the  ministers,  elders,  deacons,  and  trustees, 
after  maturely  weighing  the  subject,  voted  in  the 
negative,  on  the  very  ground  that  such  an  action 
would  necessarily  create  a  separation  of  interest, 
which  might  in  time  result  in  a  dissolution  of  the 
union  between  the  two  congregations,  an  event  which 
would  be  deeply  deplored  by  all.*  They  chose  rather 
to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  special  permission  to 
hold  an  estate  of  twice  the  usual  amount,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  in  effect  two  churches,  and  in 
this  they  were  successful.  The  act  was  passed  on 
March  6th,  1793.t 

There  were,  however,  two  persons  who  even  at  this 
time  were  in  favor  of  a  dissolution  of  the  collegiate 
arrangement.  These  were  the  two  associate  pastors, 
and,  although  in  so  decided  a  minority,  they  were  out- 
spoken in  their  opinion  and  even  presented  the  matter 
for  formal  discussion;  but  their  proposal  was  at  that 
time  emphatically  and  almost  curtly  rejected.  Of  the 
two,  Dr.  (then  Mr.)  Miller  J  was  probably  the  more 
active  in  this  matter.     He  had  recently  arrived  and 

♦  "Manuscript  Hist.,"  p.  25. 

t  See  also  act  of  March  27th,  1801. 

t  "Life  of  Samuel  Miller,"  p.  265. 


/ 
THE  SEPARATION  105 

had  been  at  once  impressed,  perhaps  annoyed,  by  the 
difficulties  inherent  in  the  situation.  He  pointed  out 
that  every  family  in  both  churches  expected  and 
claimed  visits  from  each  pastor,  so  that  the  amount 
of  work  which  could  have  been  accomplished  by  a 
proper  division  of  labor  was  rendered  impossible. 
Still  more  unfortunate  was  the  effect  of  certain  par- 
tialities for  one  or  another  of  the  pastors,  which 
tended  to  create  unpleasant  feeling  and  to  divide  the 
church. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  recognized  advan- 
tages. The  relation  of  Dr.  Rodgers  to  both  congre- 
gations, beloved  as  he  was  by  every  individual  in 
them,  made  a  mighty  plea  for  its  own  continuance. 
And  the  people  were  content:  they  did  not  wish  to 
change.  This  in  itself  was  enough  to  determine  that 
at  that  time  no  change  should  be  made. 

Dr.  Miller's  opinion,  however,  did  not  alter.  He 
still  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  "the  Siamese 
twins,"  as  he  called  them,  would  be  cut  apart.  With 
what  success  his  arguments,  aided  no  doubt  by  the 
force  of  circumstances,  pleaded  the  cause  of  separa- 
tion during  the  next  decade,  is  clearly  seen  in  a  set  of 
resolutions  adopted  by  the  officers  of  the  church  in 
July,  1805.  From  these  we  learn  that  the  extension 
of  the  collegiate  system  eight  years  before,  to  include 
a  third  church,*  was  by  this  time  felt  to  be  a  some- 
what doubtful  expedient.  It  is  true  that  the  officers 
voted  to  continue  the  union  of  the  three  congregations 
as  "beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,"  but  only  on  certain  rather  radical  condi- 
tions.    The  newest  church,  on  Rutgers  Street,  was 

*  See  above,  p.  85. 


106  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

now  to  have  a  separate  minister  of  its  own,  enjoying 
his  entire  and  undivided  services  and  paying  his 
salary.  It  was  also  to  pay  henceforth  all  its  own 
running  expenses,  instead  of  drawing  on  the  general 
treasury,  and  it  was  to  receive  a  certain  fixed  portion 
of  the  fees  of  the  burial-ground  and  of  the  outstanding 
debts  due  to  the  corporation.  It  will  be  evident  at 
once  that  so  far  as  this  third  church  was  concerned 
the  collegiate  arrangement  had  by  this  new  plan 
been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Except  that  it  had 
no  elders  or  deacons  of  its  own,  the  Rutgers  Street 
Church  was  henceforth  a  practically  independent 
body. 

Three  years  later,  in  1808,  the  tendency  of  public 
opinion  again  plainly  declared  itself.  Still  another 
new  place  of  worship  being  then  demanded  by  the 
increasing  congregations  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  an  entirely  separate  organization  was  cre- 
ated. The  relation  of  this  new  church  on  Cedar 
Street  to  the  older  collegiate  churches  *  was  as  hearty 
as  could  be  desired — Dr.  Rodgers  laid  the  corner- 
stone and  preached  the  opening  sermon — but  the  old 

*  For  the  sake  of  clearness  a  list  of  all  the  Presbyterian  churches  exist- 
ing at  this  time  in  the  city  is  here  given. 

(1)  The  First  Presbyterian  Church  (1706),  including: 

(a)  The  Wall  Street  Congregation  (1719),  now  the  old  First 

Church; 

(b)  The  Brick  Church  Congregation   (1767),  now  the  Brick 

Church: 

(c)  The  Rutgers  Street  Congregation  (1798),  now  the  Rutgers 

Riverside  Church. 

(2)  The  First  Associate  Reformed  Church,  originally,  and  again  later, 
called  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  (1756),  now  at  Central  Park  West 
and  Ninety-sixth  Street. 

(3)  The  Fourth  Presbyterian,  known  for  a  time  as  the  First  Associate 
Presbyterian  Church  (organized,  1787,  incorporated,  1803),  now  at  West 
End  Avenue  and  Ninety-first  Street. 


THE  SEPARATION  107 

idea  of  an  organic  union  had  here  been  utterly  aban- 
doned, and  Dr.  McKnight,  in  giving  the  charge  to  the 
new  pastor*  at  his  installation,  pointedly  congratu- 
lated him  upon  his  good  fortune  in  being  the  sole 
pastor  of  his  church. 

The  object-lesson,  thus  provided,  of  an  independent 
organization  "was  doubtless,"  says  Dr.  Miller,  "one 
of  the  principal  means  employed  by  Providence  for 
breaking  up  the  system  of  'collegiate  charges.'  .  .  . 
Though  this  system,  wherever  it  exists,  is  injurious 
to  the  body  of  the  churches  so  united,  and  perplexing 
and  discouraging  to  the  ministers,  .  .  .  yet  where  it 
has  been  in  operation  for  forty  or  fifty  years,  and 
where  its  disruption  must  invade  the  feelings  and 
prejudices  of  many  individuals,  none  can  expect  to 
accomplish  such  a  measure  without  much  agitation 
and  trouble.  The  establishment  of  the  Cedar  Street 
Church,  toward  the  close  of  1808,  the  unusual  degree 
of  success  which  attended  the  whole  undertaking, 
the  numerous  advantages  which  soon  began  to  dis- 
close themselves,  as  resulting  from  a  separate  pastoral 
charge,  and  the  impression  which  these  advantages 
made,  silently  but  deeply,  on  the  public  mind — all 
tended  at  once  to  hasten  and  to  facilitate  the  attempt 
to  separate  the  old  collegiate  churches."  f     It  should 

(4)  The  second  Associate  Reformed  Church  (1797),  originally  a  part  of 
the  Scotch  Church,  and  bound  to  it  in  "collegiate"  organization  until 
1803.  It  now  forms  a  part  of  the  Central  Church  on  West  Fifty-seventh 
Street 

(5)  The  Cedar  Street  Church  (1808),  referred  to  in  the  text,  now  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

(6)  The  Orange  Street  Church  was  foimded  later  in  1808.  It  is  now 
extinct. 

*  The  Rev.  John  B.  Romeyn,  from  Albany, 
t  "Rodgers  Mem.,"  pp.  420  /. 


108  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

be  added,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Dr.  Rodgers,  not 
unnaturally,  was  unable  to  see  the  necessity  for  any 
change. 

As  early  as  December,  1808,  the  session  adopted 
a  resolution*  requesting  the  elders,  deacons,  and 
trustees  "to  meet  and  confer  together  respecting  the 
propriety  and  expediency  of  attempting  a  division  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of  New 
York  into  three  separately  organized  churches." 
Several  such  joint  meetings  were  accordingly  held, 
and  the  main  proposition  meeting  with  approval,  the 
following  ten  articles  f  were  proposed  on  March  27th, 
1809,  by  way  of  a  definite  plan  of  separation,  espe- 
cially as  related  to  the  two  older  churches.  The 
Rutgers  Street  Church  seems  to  be  concerned  in  but 
one  of  the  articles  (the  fourth.) 

1st.  The  charity  school-house  and  the  lot  of  ground 
on  which  it  stands  shall  continue  to  be  held  in  com- 
mon, each  church,  when  divided,  to  bear  an  equal 
proportion  of  the  expenses  of  supporting  the  school, 
which  shall  be  under  the  care  of  the  ministers  of  the 
two  churches  and  committees  appointed  by  their 
boards  of  trustees. 

2d  and  3d.  The  churches  on  Wall  and  Beekman 
streets,  with  the  land  on  which  they  stand,  shall  be 
the  sole  property  of  their  respective  congregations. 

4th.  The  twenty-four  lots  purchased  from  James 
R.  [or  K.]  Beekman  for  a  burial  ground  shall  be 
equally  divided  between  the  three  churches. 

5th.  The  lot  on  Hester  Street  and  any  other  real 

*  From  this  point  the  minutes  of  the  trustees  and  of  the  session  of  the 
Brick  Church  become  our  chief  sources, 
t  Given  here  in  condensed  form. 


THE  SEPARATION  109 

estate  held  or  claimed  by  the  corporation  of  the  two 
churches  shall  continue  to  be  held  in  common. 

6th.  All  the  personal  estate  belonging  to  the  two 
churches  shall  be  equally  divided.* 

7th.  Dr.  McKnight  shall  take  the  parochial  charge 
of  the  Brick  Church,  Dr.  Miller  of  the  Wall  Street 
Church,  and  they  are  to  interchange  mutually  as 
heretofore. 

8th.  The  Wall  Street  Church  shall  pay  to  the 
Brick  Church  $2,500. 

9th.  The  two  churches  shall  share  in  paying  Dr. 
Rodgers'  salary;  Dr.  McKnight's  salary  shall  be  paid 
by  the  Brick  Church,  and  Dr.  Miller's  by  the  Wall 
Street  Church. 

10th.  The  annuity  of  ,£100  from  the  lot  on  Robin- 
son Street  shall  be  enjoyed  by  the  senior  pastor  of  the 
two  churches  forever. 

These  articles  were  submitted  first  to  the  congrega- 
tions, separately,  on  Monday,  April  3d,  and  on  the 
following  Thursday  to  a  joint  meeting  held  at  the 
Wall  Street  Church.  On  this  occasion  the  separation 
of  the  Rutgers  Street  Church  from  the  other  two,  in 
regard  to  which  there  was  general  agreement,  was 
determined  upon.  Besides  the  property  already  ap- 
propriated to  the  use  of  the  people  worshipping  there, 
they  were  to  receive  one  equal  undivided  part  of  the 
Beekman  lots  (see  article  4th)  and  also,  what  the 
"articles"  did  not  contemplate,  "such  part  of  the 
personal  estate  of  this  corporation  as  may  be  justly 
due."     The  vote  upon  this  question  was  unanimous. 

*  On  the  basis  of  this  article  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church  supposed 
that  they  had  a  claim  to  half  of  the  silver  communion  service.  Wlien  their 
claim  was  asserted,  however,  in  1819,  it  was  challenged,  and  for  the  sake  of 
peace  they  felt  constrained  to  abandon  it. 


110  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

But  when  the  proposal  to  separate  the  two  older 
churches  was  voted  upon,  it  was  lost  by  a  vote  of 
forty-seven  to  forty-six. 

The  causes  for  this  apparently  hopeless  disagree- 
ment are  in  part  unknown  to  us.  A  chief  difficulty, 
however,  had  certainly  arisen  in  connection  with  the 
question  of  Dr.  McKnight's  future  relation  to  the 
churches.  Some  of  the  Brick  Church  people  were 
distinctly  dissatisfied  that  he,  rather  than  Dr.  Miller, 
should  now  become  their  sole  pastor.  Dr.  Mc- 
Knight,  on  his  side,  was  even  more  emphatic  in  ex- 
pressing dissatisfaction  with  his  assignment  to  the 
Brick  Church.  It  is  evident  that  a  letter  from  him, 
proposing  to  resign  altogether,  was  an  important 
cause  of  the  adverse  vote  of  April  6th. 

All  that  could  be  done  was  to  appoint  a  committee 
to  "consult  on  the  present  unhappy  state  of  affairs  in 
the  two  churches,  and  make  report  to  the  two  congr£- 
gations."  This  committee,  after  considering  all 
means  of  "restoring  harmony,"  recommended  the 
adoption  of  the  original  plan  of  March  27th,  and  at 
the  same  time  provided  that  an  endeavor  be  made 
to  convince  Dr.  McKnight  "of  the  sincere  love  and 
esteem  of  the  congregations  for  him"  and  to  gain  his 
acquiescence  and,  if  possible,  his  support. 

In  one  respect  this  committee  failed  in  its  purpose. 
It  could  not  persuade  Dr.  McKnight  to  alter  his  de- 
cision: he  persisted  in  resigning.  But  the  continued 
canvassing  of  the  matter  among  the  congregation, 
by  changing  the  views  of  some  and  arousing  many  to 
action  who  had  not  been  heard  from  at  all  in  the  first 
instance,  opened  the  way  to  a  practical  solution  of  the 
main  problem.     At  a  second  meeting  of  the  congrega- 


THE  SEPARATION  111 

tion,  held  on  April  12th,  the  general  subject  of  separa- 
tion being  put  to  vote  without  debate,  it  was  found 
that  ninety-two  were  in  favor  as  against  seventy-six 
opposed.  The  original  plan,  with  such  modifications, 
of  course,  as  were  necessitated  by  the  previous 
separation  of  the  Rutgers  Street  Church  and  by  Dr. 
McKnight's  complete  withdrawal,  was  then  adopted; 
and  at  last  this  "perplexed  and  embarrassing  situa- 
tion" was  brought  to  an  end. 

The  Presbytery  of  New  York,  meeting  two  weeks 
later,  approved  in  two  separate  articles  the  formation 
of  the  Rutgers  Street  congregation  into  a  distinct  and 
independent  church,  and  the  separation  of  the  Wall 
Street  and  Brick  churches  one  from  the  other.* 
At  the  same  time  they  granted  the  request  of  Dr. 
McKnight,  that  the  pastoral  relation  between  him 
and  the  united  Presbyterian  congregations  of  New 
York  be  dissolved.  It  is  noted  that  in  this  the  con- 
gregations concurred  "with  great  reluctance." f 
V  In  conformity  with  these  proceedings  Dr.  Rodgers 
arid  seven  of  the  Presbyterian  elders,  J  namely,  Abra- 
ham Van  Gelder,  John  Thompson,  Thomas  Ogilvie, 
Benjamin  Egbert,  William  Frazer,  John  Bingham, 

*  The  separation  had  already  been  authorized  by  an  act  of  Legislature, 
February  17th,  1809. 

t  The  excellent  effects  of  the  separation  were  in  a  short  time  very  appar- 
ent. Dr.  Miller,  who  afterward  was  inclined  to  believe  that  his  own  part 
in  this  matter  was  his  greatest  service  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York,  wrote  in  1813:  "The  writer  is  persuaded  that  he  is  chargeable  with 
no  exaggeration,  when  he  asserts  that  all  the  churches  which  were  once 
united  have  become  more  flourishing  since  they  were  separated,  and  that 
in  the  period  of  four  years  since  that  event  occurred  nearly  double  the 
number  of  members  has  been  added  to  the  aggregate  Presbyterian  body  in 
New  York  than  was  ever  added  to  it  in  a  similar  period  before."  ("Rod- 
gers Mem.,"  p.  422.     Cf.  also  "  Life  of  Samuel  Miller.") 

X  See  Appendices  C  and  D,  pp.  517,  519. 


112  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  John  Mills  were  constituted  a  new  session  for  the 
Brick  Church,  and  that  body  held  its  first  meeting  on 
Monday  evening,  May  1st,  1809.  Besides  arranging 
to  pay  $15*  a  Sunday  for  the  supply  of  their  now 
vacant  pulpit  (Dr.  Rodgers  was  too  old  to  preach), 
they  on  that  occasion  nominated  Samuel  Osgood 
and  William  Whitlock  for  the  office  of  elder.  These 
two  gentlemen,  who  were  shortly  afterward  ordained, 
thus  belonged  practically  to  the  first  session  of  the 
independent  church. 

Of  the  five  Presbyterian  deacons  f  at  the  time  of  the 
separation  three,  namely,  Mr.  Richard  Cunningham, 
Mr.  Hutchins  and  Mr.  Miller,  became  deacons  of  the 
Brick  Church,  and  began  their  work  there  with  the 
sum  of  $75.87,  brought  over  from  the  old  treasury. 

The  trustees  J  who  composed  the  original  board 
must  also  be  given  by  name.  They  were  Samuel 
Osgood,  John  R.  Murray,  John  Mills,  Benjamin 
Egbert,  John  Bingham,  Grove  Wright,  Richard  Cun- 
ningham, John  Adams  and  Peter  Bonnett.  Their 
first  act  was  to  adopt  as  the  official  title  "The  Cor- 
poration of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City 
of  New  York."  Immediately  their  minutes  indicate 
activity  in  many  directions.  They  divide  themselves 
up  into  committees  on  finance,  on  repairs,  and  on  the 
charity  school.  They  appoint  a  collector  of  pew- 
rents.  They  provide  for  the  erection  of  a  fence  about 
the  church,  consisting  of  a  stone  basement  twelve 
inches  high,  surmounted  with  wooden  pales.  They 
secure  the  right  to  build  burial  vaults  in  the  church- 

*  This  was  later  increased  $5  by  the  trustees  for  supplies  from  New 
Jersey  or  Long  Island. 

t  See  Appendix  E,  p.  520. 

i  See  Appendices  F,  G,  H,  and  I,  pp.  522,  524,  525,  526. 


THE  SEPARATION  113 

yard  and  proceed  to  build  and  to  sell  them.  They 
provide  for  a  division  of  the  burying-ground  together 
with  its  appurtenances,  such  as  the  hearse-house,  the 
hearse,  and  the  silk  and  the  cotton  palls.  They 
appoint  James  Forrester  as  teacher  of  the  charity 
school  at  a  salary  of  $250.  Several  of  these  items 
refer  to  subjects  which  w^ill  demand  fuller  attention 
in  later  chapters,  but  at  present  it  is  necessary  to  turn 
to  the  one  great  task  which  now  confronted  the  whole 
church,  the  calling  of  a  pastor. 


PART  TWO 
THE  LONG  PASTORATE 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   CALL  OF   GARDINER  SPRING:   1809 

1810 

"And  Micah  said  unto  him,  Whence  comest  thou?  And  he  said  unto  him,  I  am 
a  Levite  of  Bethlehem-Judah,  and  I  go  to  sojourn  where  I  may  find  a  place.  And 
Micah  said  unto  him,  Dwell  with  me,  and  be  unto  me  a  father  and  a  priest." — 
Judges  17  :  9  /. 

"It  appeared  to  my  own  mind  the  call  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  a 
field  of  labor  too  important  to  be  compared  with  others." — Gardiner  Spring. 
"The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  p.  14. 

IT  must  be  confessed  that  the  independent  life 
of  the  Brick  Church  did  not  begin  under 
very  favorable  auspices.  The  separation  which 
created  it  had  been  opposed  by  a  considerable  minor- 
ity. As  a  result  the  church  was  to  some  extent  di- 
vided. Except  the  decay  of  faith  and  morals,  nothing 
is  more  destructive  of  a  church's  welfare  than  division 
of  this  sort.  By  it  every  action  of  the  church  is 
hindered,  and  especially  the  work  of  choosing  a  pastor 
becomes,  under  such  circumstances,  a  very  difficult 
matter. 

This  proved  abundantly  true  in  the  case  of  the 
Brick  Church.  Moreover,  it  was  soon  discovered 
that,  not  unnaturally,  the  conditions  then  existing  did 
not  prove  attractive  to  such  men  as  were  invited  to 
consider  the  pastorate.  The  Rev.  John  Brown,  of 
North  Carolina,  being  earnestly  requested  by  the 
session  to  make  the  church  a  visit  "with  a  view  to 
further   measures,"   sent   word   through   Dr.    Miller 

117 


118  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

"that  his  engagements  were  such  that  he  could  not 
make  a  visit  to  the  city  of  New  York."  In  September 
a  congregational  meeting  issued  a  unanimous  call  to 
the  Rev.  John  McDowell,  of  Elizabethtown,  N.  J., 
at  a  salary  of  $2,000,  but  this  promising  step  led  to 
nothing.  The  elders  who  had  been  appointed  to 
prosecute  the  call  before  Presbytery  reported  that 
they  were  unsuccessful  and  that  the  call  had  been 
returned.  But  the  persistency  of  the  session  and 
their  promptness  in  bringing  forward  a  new  candidate 
were  certainly  admirable.  In  November  they  had 
secured  the  Rev.  Andrew  Yates,  of  East  Hartford, 
Conn.,  as  supply  for  the  Brick  Church  pulpit,  and 
in  the  same  month  he  also  was  unanimously  called. 
Not  until  January,  1810,  was  it  learned  that  disap- 
pointment must  again  be  borne.  The  Council  of 
Congregational  Churches  called  to  consider  Mr. 
Yates's  removal  to  New  York  were  of  the  opini9n 
that  his  present  pastoral  relation  should  not  be  dis- 
solved, and  in  their  decision  he  acquiesced. 

The  next  name  that  came  before  the  session  was 
that  of  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  then  of  East  Hamp- 
ton, Long  Island.  It  is  interesting  to  think  that  the 
father  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  might  have  been  chosen  at  this  time  to  guide 
the  fortunes  of  the  Brick  Church.  He  had  supplied 
the  pulpit  twice  in  December,  and  at  that  time  had 
written  to  his  wife,  "if  the  city  clergymen  alone  were 
concerned  [I]  should,  I  was  given  to  understand,  be 
gladly  stationed  among  them."  *  Two  months  later, 
on  February  10th,  he  tells  the  result  of  a  later  visit. 
He  says,  "I  preached  three  Sabbaths  in  New  York 

*  "Autobiography  of  Lyman  Beecher,"  Vol.  I,  p.  179. 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  119 

for  the  Brick  Church,  and  came  as  near  having  a  call 
as  the  fellow  did  being  killed  who  came  to  the  field 
the  day  after  the  battle."  *  This  statement  was  per- 
haps not  quite  just  to  himself,  for  after  his  visit  the 
proposal  to  call  him  was  by  no  means  summarily 
dismissed.  At  four  separate  meetings  of  the  session 
or  of  all  the  officers  of  the  church  together  the  question 
of  calling  Mr.  Beecher  was  under  discussion,  but 
such  a  decided  and  persistent  difference  of  opinion 
was  discovered  that  the  matter  was  never  brought 
before  the  congregation.  A  friend,  writing  to  Mr. 
Beecher  from  New  York,  says  that  the  opposition 
came  chiefly  from  two  of  the  trustees,  others  voting 
with  them  in  the  negative  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  pre- 
serving harmony,  and  that  in  his  judgment  three- 
quarters  of  the  congregation  were  disappointed  in  the 
outcome. f  At  any  rate  no  pastor  had  yet  been 
secured. 

It  is  certainly  no  wonder  that  after  such  prolonged 
discouragement  the  difficulty  of  uniting  upon  a  pastor 
had  increased.  In  May  the  session  passed  a  resolu- 
tion which  reveals  the  truly  pathetic  state  of  this 
pastorless  church.  A  committee  of  two  was  *'  author- 
ized to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  so  as  to  be  there 
before,  or  as  soon  as,  the  General  Assembly  meets, 
and  make  application  to  any  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministers  that  may  be  convened  there,  whose  piety 
and  talents  would  in  their  judgment  render  him  ac- 
ceptable to  the  congregation  of  the  Brick  Church,  and 
earnestly  solicit  such  minister  to  make  said  church  a 
visit  for  two  or  three  Sabbaths  with  a  view  to  a  perma- 

*  "Autobiography  of  Lyman  Beecher,"  Vol.  I,  p.  183. 
t  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  188. 


120  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

nent  settlement  as  pastor  of  said  congregation ;  and  in 
case  they  should  not  find  any  minister  there,  suitably 
qualified,  that  would  be  willing  to  come,  that  they 
make  inquiry  of  the  ministers  present,  and  if  they 
received  well-grounded  information  respecting  any 
minister  whose  piety  and  talents  would  probably 
make  him  acceptable  to  the  congregation  of  the  Brick 
Church,  that  they  take  such  measures  for  procuring 
a  visit  from  such  minister  as  they  may  think  proper 
either  by  writing  or  by  personal  application."  * 

Before  this  humble  quest,  in  search  of  some  one  to 
take  pity  on  their  need,  could  be  carried  out,  a  young 
man,  who  was  passing  through  the  city  on  his  way 
to  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly,  and  who  preached 
at  an  evening  lecture  in  the  Cedar  Street  Church  in 
the  absence  of  Dr.  Romeyn,  was  heard  by  a  number 
of  Brick  Church  people,  and  made  upon  them  a 
favorable  impression.  This  was  Mr.  Gardiner 
Spring,  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  who  had  just 
completed  his  theological  studies  at  Andover.f  A 
few  days  later,  after  he  had  returned  from  Phila- 
delphia, he  was  invited  to  preach  for  three  Sabbaths 
in  the  Brick  Church.  The  instructions  to  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  invite  him  seem  to  suggest  the 
same  chastened  spirit  and  sensitiveness  in  regard  to  a 
possible  rebuff  which  have  already  been  observed. 
The  committee  is  "to  call  on  Mr.  Spring  and  to  re- 
quest him  to  inform  them  whether  it  will  be  con- 
venient  for   him   to   accept   the   invitation   for  that 

*  At  the  meeting  when  this  resolution  was  passed  it  was  also  voted  to 
invite  the  Rev.  Mr.  Speece,  of  Virginia,  to  visit  the  church,  but  of  this 
nothing  came. 

t  "The  Life  and  Times  of  Gardiner  Spring,"  by  himself,  now  becomes 
an  important  source. 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  121 

number  of  Sabbaths,  and  if  not,  how  many  Sabbaths 
he  can  supply  their  pulpit." 

He  made  his  first  appearance  in  the  Brick  Church 
at  the  Sunday  morning  service  on  June  3d,  1810, 
when  he  preached  from  the  text,  "Wherefore  come 
ye  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will  be  a  Father 
unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  Immediately  after  this 
service  the  session  met  in  the  church  and  voted  that 
at  the  close  of  the  services  that  very  afternoon  and 
evening  a  notice  be  read,  calling  a  meeting  of  the  pew- 
holders  and  stated  hearers  on  the  next  day  at  noon, 
to  consider  the  propriety  of  making  out  a  call  for 
Mr.  Gardiner  Spring  to  be  the  stated  pastor  of  the 
church.  The  meeting  was  held  at  the  time  appointed, 
the  call  was  unanimously  voted  at  a  salary  of  $2,500,* 
a  year,  and  almost  immediately  came  through  Mr. 
John  Mills,  the  senior  elder,  the  good  tidings  that  Mr. 
Spring  intended  to  accept.  If  in  the  relation  between 
church  and  minister  there  is  ever  such  a  thing  as  love 
at  first  sight,  this  was  certainly  an  instance  of  it. 

It  must  have  been  gratifying  to  the  somewhat  dis- 
couraged and  humiliated  church  to  know  that  the 
delay  of  a  month  in  Mr.  Spring's  more  formal  ac- 
ceptance t  was  due  to  the  fact  that  in  courtesy  he 

*  In  the  signed  copy  sent  to  the  pastor-elect  and  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  church,  the  figure  was  originally  $2,000,  the  extra  $500  being  added 
by  an  interlineation. 

t  The  text  of  the  acceptance  was  as  follows : 

"  Andover,  Jvhj  6th,  1810. 

"To  the  Congregation  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of 
New  York. 

"Dear  Brethren: 

"Your  communication  containing  a  call  to  me  to 
settle  among  you  as  a  gospel  minister  has  been  the  subject  of  advice,  prayer, 


122  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

must  first  dispose  of  two  other  calls,  from  Andover 
and  the  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  and  also  a 
request  to  entertain  a  call  from  New  Haven.  But, 
no  doubt,  their  own  personal  assurance  that  they  had 
found  the  right  man  was  enough  to  satisfy  them. 
He  himself,  it  is  true,  speaking  in  later  years  of  the 
sermons  preached  by  him  in  the  Brick  Church  on 
that  momentous  third  of  June,  said  that  he  had 
*' often  been  filled  with  wonder  that  these  two  jejune 
and  puerile  discourses  should  have  decided  the 
question  on  which  so  many  interests  depended."  * 
The  fact  was,  probably,  that  the  young  preacher  was 
chosen  for  himself  rather  than  for  his  sermons,  and, 
moreover,  back  of  all  such  explanations,  as  he  himself 
said,  "the  hand  of  God  was  in  the  whole  proceeding." 
Like  the  proverbial  "course  of  true  love"  the 
necessary  preliminaries  to  the  formal  settlement  of 
thejnew  pastor  did  not  "run  smooth."  For  a  time 
it  seemed  as  though  the  banns  might  yet  be  forbidden. 
When  Mr.  Spring  was  examined  before  the  Presby- 
tery, many  heads  were  doubtfully  shaken  over  the 
question  of  his  orthodoxy.  "My  trial  sermon,"  he 
says,  "was  a  frank  avowal  of  my  sentiments,  and  a 

and  serious  deliberation,    I  hereby  accept  it.    Believe  me,  dear  brethren, 

that  I  feel  thankful  for  the  unmerited  attention  and  respect  which  a  call 

from  80  respectable  a  congregation  has  manifested.     By  the  blessing  of 

God  I  hope  to  be  with  you  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks.     I  have  given 

myself  up  to  God.    Without  recalling  that  act,  I  now  give  myself  to  you. 

Pray  for  me,  fathers  and  brethren,  that  I  may  be  sent  in  the  fulness  of  the 

blessings  of  the  gospel  of  peace. 

"Wishing  you  grace,  mercy,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the 

Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

"  I  am,  dear  brethren, 

"  Your  servant  in  the  Lord, 

"Gardiner  Spring." 

*"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"p.  13- 


f/u.  iPef-U^'-^^^^'^  <J-  tiC^yVyLit-Hr   llA>U^  U/UJt.<^   cUm/i^  C4^  SuZ^  ^^^6^" c^ 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  CALL  OF  GARDINEK   .SPUINCi 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  123 

bold  and  unequivocal  statement  of  the  views  I  then 
entertained  upon  the  subject  of  human  ability,"  a 
burning  question  in  that  day.  Had  not  Dr.  Miller 
declared  that  he  himself  must  be  included  in  any 
condemnation  of  Mr.  Spring's  views  on  this  matter, 
it  is  likely  that  an  adverse  vote  would  have  resulted. 
As  it  was,  the  ultra-orthodox  comforted  themselves 
by  the  reflection  that  the  gentleman  was  young  and 
that  a  better  acquaintance  with  Presbyterianism 
would  soon  modify  his  views.  Dr.  Milledoler,  who 
was  one  of  the  first  to  attempt  to  acquaint  him  more 
fully  with  the  Presbyterian  system,  and  to  produce 
the  expected  modification,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed, 
at  the  close  of  a  prolonged  discussion,  that  in  his 
judgment  the  best  way  of  curing  a  man  of  such  views 
as  those  which  Mr.  Spring  obstinately  professed  was 
to  dip  his  head  in  cold  water.  This  incident,  how- 
ever, occurred  at  a  slightly  later  date,  and  meantime 
on  Wednesday,  August  8th,  1810,  Mr.  Spring  was 
ordained  and  installed  in  the  Brick  Church.  On 
that  occasion  Dr.  Milledoler  preached  the  sermon, 
and  Dr.  Miller  and  Dr.  Romeyn  delivered  the  charges 
to  the  pastor  and  to  the  congregation  respectively. 
Dr.  Rodgers  was  present  and  united  with  the  others 
in  "the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery." 
The  pastorate  thus  begun  was  destined  to  last  for 
more  than  sixty  years. 

Mr.  Spring  was  of  New  England  ancestry.  His 
father,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Spring,  of  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  was  a  man  of  ability  and  influence.  He  had 
served  with  credit  as  Chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  accompanying  Arnold's  army  on  the  arduous 
expedition  to  Quebec,  and  his  subsequent  call  to  the 


124  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Congregational  Church  in  Newburyport,  on  the 
strength  of  the  single  sermon  preached  by  him  to  the 
colonial  soldiers  on  the  eve  of  the  expedition's  depart- 
ure, was  not  unlike  his  son's  call  to  the  Brick  Church. 
His  entire  life  was  given  to  the  ministry  in  Newbury- 
port and  to  the  duties  which  grew  out  of  his  position 
there.  Perhaps  his  greatest  public  service  was  ren- 
dered in  connection  with  the  founding  of  Andover 
Seminary  and  of  the  American  Board  of  Commission- 
ers of  Foreign  Missions.  Of  the  spirit  which,  in 
addition  to  his  undoubted  talents,  made  him  a  suc- 
cessful minister  of  the  gospel,  enough  perhaps  is  said 
in  quoting  the  remark  of  one  of  his  hearers:  "I  love 
to  hear  Mr.  Spring  pray,  because  he  prays  as  though 
he  loved  God."  * 

For  his  mother  Gardiner  Spring  always  cherished 
a  very  tender  affection.  "She  was  a  sweet  mother," 
he  says  of  her.  "She  was  our  earthly  refuge.  The 
church  loved  her  as  much  as  they  did  their  pastor. 
The  whole  town,  with  all  their  denominational  differ- 
ences, loved  and  respected  Mrs.  Dr.  Spring.  She 
was  at  the  head  of  their  charitable  institutions,  alike 
honored  by  the  rich  and  sought  after  by  the  poor."  f 

From  both  his  parents  Mr.  Spring  had  received  the 
most  thorough  Christian  training,  and  their  influence 
upon  his  later  religious  life  can  hardly  be  overstated. 
It  is  reassuring,  however,  to  learn  that  he  was  a  real 

*  His  epitaph  is  suggestive.  It  reads  in  part:  "A  man  of  an  original 
and  vigorous  mind,  distinguished  for  a  deep  sense  of  human  depravity, 
and  especially  of  his  own  unworthiness,  and  for  his  exalted  views  of  the 
character  and  perfections  of  God  the  Redeemer;  of  great  integrity,  firm- 
ness, benevolence  and  urbanity;  an  able,  faithful  and  assiduous  pastor,  an 
example  to  the  flock  over  which  he  was  placed;  a  kind  husband,  a  tender 
father,  and  a  sincere  friend." 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  51. 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  125 

boy  before  he  was  a  good  one.  Our  evidence  comes 
from  his  own  pen  when  he  was  over  eighty  years  of 
age,  and  it  is  in  a  tone  of  self-accusation  that  he 
writes;  but,  reading  between  the  lines,  it  is  possible 
for  us  to  take  a  somewhat  more  genial  view  of  the 
youthful  perversity  which  he  confesses.  "I  was 
born,"  he  says,  "in  the  town  of  Newburyport  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1785.  I  recollect  nothing  of  my 
infancy,  very  little  of  my  childhood,  and  nothing  so 
early  as  my  proneness  to  evil.  As  far  back  as  I  can 
remember  anything,  I  can  remember  that  I  was  a 
selfish,  wilful  boy,  and  very  impatient  of  restraint. 
As  I  grew  to  riper  years,  my  sinful  tendencies  were 
expressed,  sometimes  in  bold  and  sometimes  in  de- 
ceitful forms.  ...  I  was  by  nature  a  child  of  wrath. 
...  I  had  no  outwardly  vicious  habits,  but  was 
impatient  of  control,  and  thought  it  a  hard  and  severe 
discipline  that  I  was  not  allowed  to  enjoy  the  ordinary 
amusements  of  boys  of  my  age,  and  only  wished  that 
I  was  old  enough  and  strong  enough  to  flee  out  of  my 
father's  hands."*  And  yet,  when  at  the  "ripe"  age 
of  twelve,  he  was  sent  away  to  school,  he  soon  showed, 
according  to  his  own  confession,  a  quite  different 
character.  "I  had  no  heart  for  study,"  he  says,  "I 
had  no  heart  for  anything  but  home.'*  1[  We  may 
say,  then,  that  at  the  outset  he  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  very  much  like  other  boys  of  his  age. 

He  was  not  so  fortunate  in  the  fact  that  his  studies 
were  unduly  pushed,  so  that  he  entered  Yale  College  J 
when  he  was  but  fifteen  years  old,  the  youngest  of 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  74-76. 
t  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  76. 

I  He  tells  us  that  in  the  college  "  at  that  time  there  were  but  three  pro- 
fessors."   Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  285. 


126  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

his  class.  He  was,  he  tells  us,  "a  severe  student  and 
as  ambitious  as  Caesar,"*  and  the  result  was  that 
his  eyesight  was  injured  and  his  health  impaired,  so 
that  he  was  forced  to  drop  out  of  college  for  a  year, 
and  finally  graduated  in  1805.  He  was  the  valedic- 
torian of  his  class,  and  in  his  address,  he  says,  was 
"foolish  and  wicked  enough  to  adopt  the  vainglorious 
maxim  Aut  Ccesar,  aut  nullus."^ 

The  boy  of  twenty  who  thus  once  more  assures  us 
that  he  was  entirely  human,  had,  during  his  college 
course,  passed  through  a  very  decided  religious 
experience.  During  a  revival  in  the  college  he  had 
been  led  to  give  to  the  subject  of  religion  a  measure 
of  that  awful  consideration  which  was  then  regarded 
as  indispensable.  He  speaks  particularly  of  one  Satur- 
day afternoon  which  he  devoted  entirely  to  prayer, 
endeavoring  to  reach  the  assurance  that  he  had  se- 
cured the  divine  mercy.  "There,"  he  says,  "in  the 
south  entry  of  the  old  college,  back  side,  middle  room, 
third  story,  I  wrestled  with  God  as  I  had  never 
wrestled  before."  J  For  a  month  he  thought  he  had 
succeeded  in  his  purpose,  and  then  on  the  Fourth  of 
July  "marvellous  to  be  told,  amid  the  arrangements 
and  speeches,  the  songs  and  glee  of  that  memorable 
day,  my  religious  hopes  and  impressions  all  vanished, 
as  *a  morning  cloud,  and  as  the  early  dew.'"§  It  is 
noteworthy  that  although  he  did  not  "abandon  [his] 
closet  nor  forsake  the  society  of  [his]  religious  class- 
mates," ||  he  now  considered  that  he  was  leading  a 
distinctly  irreligious  life.     This  belief  was  strength- 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  78.     f  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  82. 
X  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  80.  $  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  81. 

II  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  81. 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  127 

ened  by  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  another  revival  in 
the  college  during  the  next  summer,  though  he 
*' rejoiced  to  see  so  many  students  pressing  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  he  himself  felt  that  he  had  "no 
lot  nor  part  in  this  matter."  * 

It  will  probably  seem  to  readers  of  the  present  day 
that  a  less  wooden  conception  of  the  process  of  con- 
version than  was  then  current  would  at  once  have 
assured  this  young  man  of  the  essential  Christianity 
of  his  thoughts  and  purposes;  but  the  extreme  con- 
scientiousness, which  the  old  view  inculcated,  cer- 
tainly played  a  most  important  part  in  the  building 
up  of  that  stalwart  Christianity  by  which  our  grand- 
parents were  distinguished,  and  unless  we  have  some 
knowledge  of  these  passages  in  the  early  experience 
of  Mr.  Spring  we  shall  not  be  prepared  to  understand 
some  of  the  strongest  and  most  characteristic  elements 
of  his  later  life  and  work. 

On  leaving  college  he  began  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  profession  of  the  law,  but  this  was  shortly  after 
interrupted  by  an  opportunity  to  go  as  school-teacher 
to  the  island  of  Bermuda.  One  of  his  letters,  written 
while  in  that  position,  displays  in  the  most  singular 
manner  the  religious  perplexities  in  which  he  was 
then  involved.  At  one  and  the  same  time  he  first 
expresses  in  the  most  feeling  terms  his  inclination  to 
turn  to  the  ministry  as  his  life-work,  and  then  with 
equal  force  declares  his  haunting  fear  that  he  is  not 
even  a  Christian.  He  tells  frankly  the  best  and  the 
worst  about  himself,  as  far  as  he  is  able  to  see  them. 
The  best  could  hardly  be  better,  and  the  worst  was 
not  so  bad  after  all.     "I  am  attached  to  the  world," 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  82. 


b>8  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

he  confesses,  "I  am  avaricious;  and  in  the  present 
state  of  my  family,  make  money  my  god.  I  strain 
honesty  as  far  as  I  can  to  gain  a  little.  ...  I  serve 
God  and  Mammon."  * 

One  clause  in  these  damaging  accusations  informs 
us  of  an  important  element  of  the  story.  The 
"family,"  to  which  he  refers,  consisted  of  his  young 
wife  and  their  son,  three  months  old.  For  Mr. 
Spring,  while  still  in  New  Haven,  had  fallen  in  love. 
Miss  Susan  Barney  was  a  pupil  at  the  weekly  singing 
school;  Gardiner  Spring  was  the  teacher;  and 
"  before  I  was  aware  of  the  attachment,"  he  says,  "  my 
heart  was  led  captive  by  one  who  had  captivated  more 
hearts  than  mine."t 

When  he  first  went  to  Bermuda,  however,  he  was 
so  ill  prl^ided  in  a  financial  way,  that  marriage  was 
as  yet  out  of  the  question :  indeed,  it  is  evident  that  his 
acceptance  of  a  position  so  far  away,  and  out  of  the 
line  of  his  intended  profession,  was  influenced  by  his 
desire  to  provide  as  soon  as  possible  the  necessary 
income.  Even  when,  in  the  spring  of  1806,  he  claimed 
his  bride,  making  a  hasty  journey  to  Connecticut 
for  that  purpose,  and  taking  her  back  with  him  im- 
mediately to  Bermuda,  his  circumstances  could  not 
be  called  afl^uent.  He  was  still  teaching  and  saving 
money,  at  a  little  place  called  the  Salt  Kettle,  when  he 
wrote  the  letter  to  his  father  already  quoted,  and  one 
may  conclude  therefore  that  the  conditions  and 
problems  of  his  life,  quite  as  much  as  original  sin, 
accounted  for  that  attachment  to  the  world  and  alarm- 
ing avarice  which  he  there  confesses.     But  at  last 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  87  /. 
t  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  88. 


THE  CALL  OF  GARDINER  SPRING  129 

enough  money  was  saved  to  enable  them  to  return  to 
America.  In  New  Haven,  Mr.  Spring  resumed  the 
study  of  the  law,  and  in  December,  1808,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar. 

It  was  not  until  now  that  this  essentially  good  man, 
who,  both  in  his  outward  observance  and  in  his 
inward  purposes,  had  been  living  a  life  of  which  many 
Christians  might  be  envious,  thought  himself  fitted 
to  unite  with  the  church.  The  truth  was  that  he 
was  at  the  same  time  prepared  for  a  still  further  step, 
though  he  did  not  at  once  realize  it.  The  state  of 
his  own  mind  was  revealed  to  him  by  the  sermon 
preached  at  the  college  commencement  in  1809,  at 
which  he  was  present  to  take  his  degree  of  A.M. 
and  to  deliver  an  oration.  The  sermon,  preached 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  started  from  the 
text,  "To  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached,"  and  to 
tell  in  a  sentence  its  overpowering  effect  upon  Mr. 
Spring,  he  left  the  church  possessed  by  the  one  thought 
that  he  must  devote  his  life  to  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  was,  as  may  be  imagined,  no  easy  task  for  a 
husband  and  a  father  to  make  so  radical  a  change, 
to  abandon  the  law  for  which  he  had  now  prepared 
himself  and  enter  upon  a  preparation  for  the  totally 
different  profession  of  the  ministry.  His  wife,  how- 
ever, when  after  some  delay  he  told  her  of  his  purpose, 
rose  to  the  occasion  in  a  brave  spirit  of  loyalty  which 
must  have  greatly  cheered  him,  and  which  was  all 
the  more  creditable  to  her  in  that  she  did  not  at  that 
time  entirely  share  his  convictions. 

The  new  seminary  at  Andover  was  the  place  chosen 
by  Mr.  Spring  for  his  theological  studies,  and  there. 


130  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

in  the  extraordinarily  short  period  of  eight  months, 
he  completed  his  preparation.  During  that  time  he 
had  for  a  number  of  weeks  supplied  the  pulpit  at 
Marblehead,  and  for  this  purpose  he  had  written 
eight  sermons.  With  these  as  his  visible  equipment, 
and  with  such  preparation  of  head  and  heart  as  he 
had  received  from  his  home-life,  from  his  own  reflec- 
tion and  experience,  and  from  his  brief  period  of 
study  at  Andover,  he  set  out,  being  now  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  on  the  journey  to  Philadelphia  which 
led  him,  by  God's  providence,  to  the  pulpit  of  the 
Brick  Church. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  TEMPORALITIES:     1810-1850 

"  I  will  make  them  keepers  of  the  charge  of  the  house,  for  all  the  service  thereof, 
and  for  all  that  shall  be  dona  therein." — Ezekiel  44  :  14. 

"The  house  does  not  belong  to  us,  but  to  him;  and  therefore  we  are  bound  to 
husband  the  property  entrusted  to  us,  for  the  best  interests  of  his  kingdom." — 
Gardiner  Spring,  "The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  p.  39. 

THE  period  of  forty  years  upon  which  we  now 
enter  is  crowded  with  events,  and  we  arc 
fortunately  provided  with  full  information 
in  regard  to  it,  so  that  we  shall  be  able  to  follow  the 
history  in  all  necessary  detail.  It  would  not,  however, 
be  desirable  to  proceed  by  a  strictly  chronological 
method.  Various  interests  of  the  church  developed 
side  by  side,  and  it  would  be  only  confusing  to  attempt 
to  deal  with  them  all  together  in  one  interwoven 
narrative.  It  will  be  best,  therefore,  to  treat  each 
main  group  of  subjects  in  a  separate  chapter,  with 
the  understanding  that  each  of  these  chapters  covers 
the  same  period,  and  that  the  events  and  develop- 
ments described  in  any  one  of  them  were  contem- 
porary with  those  described  in  the  others.  This 
arrangement  is  the  more  feasible  because  the  whole 
period  may  be  regarded  as  a  unit:  it  was  not  divided 
into  parts  by  any  events  of  critical  importance,  but 
consisted  of  one  continuous  development. 

The  material  may  be  conveniently  divided  into 
five  parts;   first,  the  temporalities  of  the  church,  its 

131 


132  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

lands,  buildings,  and  general  finances;  second,  the 
work  of  the  minister  as  pastor  and  theologian;  third, 
the  church's  religious  and  moral  progress;  fourth, 
the  history  of  the  church's  schools  for  secular  and 
religious  instruction;  and  fifth,  the  growth  in  the 
church  of  missionary  and  philanthropic  enterprise. 
The  present  chapter,  then,  will  be  devoted  to  the 
first  of  these  five  divisions,  and  will  give  an  account 
of  the  changes  which  took  place,  during  the  first 
forty  years  of  Gardiner  Spring's  pastorate,  in  the 
lands  and  l)uildings  upon  and  within  which  the  history 
of  the  Brick  Church  was  enacted,  and  of  its  financial 
problems  and  achievements  during  that  period. 

The  interior  of  the  church  itself  first  demands  our 
attention.  Whether  in  1810  the  old  pulpit,  lifted 
high  on  its  supporting  post,  still  existed,  is  not  certain. 
Mention  of  the  fact  that  in  1813  certain  ladies  had 
presented  "the  curtains  for  the  pulpit,"  combined 
with  our  knowledge  that  after  the  pulpit  had  been 
changed  to  a  platform  against  the  rear  wall,  with  the 
usual  desk,  curtains  were  then  hung  across  the  win- 
dow behind  it,  leads  us  to  suspect  that  the  change 
may  have  been  made  at  that  date.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  1822  extensive  repairs  were  undertaken  with  the 
express  purpose  of  rendering  the  church  more  easy  to 
speak  in,  and  we  learn,  incidentally,  that  these  repairs 
involved  the  removal  of  certain  pews,  all  of  which 
might  readily  suggest  some  change  in  the  pulpit. 
In  any  case,  the  change  was  made  at  some  time  dur- 
ing this  period. 

One  other  relic  of  antiquity  was  early  removed. 
The  two  "Governor's  pews"  for  the  use  of  strangers, 
had  in  1811  been  exchanged  for  six  of  the  ordinary 


1 


tJfmt   ff^^  /'SifeA  y^rri/^-iinf   6'A^'rfA  m,. /6^t-/'"^"  ^ 


GKOUND-PLAX  OF  THE  BUICK  CIirKCH  ON  liKKKM.VN 
STUEET  AS  ALTERED  IN  1822 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  133 

size.  A  few  years  later  the  addition  of  some  form 
of  mahogany  trimming  for  the  pews  throughout  the 
church  was  authorized,  and  no  doubt  added  a  good 
deal  to  the  general  appearance.  Indeed,  any  modest 
adornment  must  have  been  welcome,  one  would  think, 
in  that  severely  plain  apartment,  whose  main  features, 
the  whitewashed  walls  and  the  plain  glass  windows 
with  interior  shutters,  made  a  somewhat  cheerless 
effect.  Even  the  mahogany  trimmings  did  not  satisfy 
some  of  the  worshippers,  who  accordingly  introduced, 
of  their  own  accord,  certain  decorative  changes  in 
the  pews  which  they  had  rented.  This  led  to  a 
curious  declaration  of  the  trustees  in  1824,  in  which 
they  *' discountenanced,  not  to  say  prohibited,  the 
lining  of  pews  with  green  cloth  or  painting  them 
the  same  color."  In  1840  the  trustees  themselves 
caused  the  pews  to  be  lined,  but  the  color  is  not 
mentioned. 

There  was  in  the  church  one  decorative  feature 
which  must  not  be  overlooked.  This  was  a  shield 
surrounded  by  conventional  foliage,  carved  in  wood 
and  painted  in  white  and  gold.  Upon  it  was  in- 
scribed in  gold  letters  the  words  Holiness  to  the 
Lord.  It  was  placed  over  the  high  window  behind 
the  pulpit,  and  no  doubt  in  those  days,  as  in  later 
times  when  it  was  removed  to  a  corresponding  posi- 
tion in  the  church  on  Thirty-seventh  Street,*  it 
offered  a  grateful  object  of  study  to  the  wandering 
eyes  of  the  children  of  the  congregation. 

How  was  the  church  lighted  in  the  early  days  of 
the   nineteenth    century  ?     A    bill    of   over   <£30   for 

*  Though  no  longer  a  part  of  the  church's  decorations,  it  is  still  pre- 
served, together  with  the  large  clock  from  the  downtown  church. 


134  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

candles  paid  in  1813  gives  us  our  answer.*  Five 
years  later  brass  lamps  were  proposed,  and  after  a 
year  of  consideration  they  were  installed,  a  row  with 
reflectors  ranged  along  the  wall  in  the  galleries,  and 
others,  for  lighting  the  main  floor,  suspended  from 
the  gallery  fronts.  In  1830  the  lamps  were  in  their 
turn  disposed  of,  and  gas  was  introduced. 

During  the  first  part  of  this  period  the  heating  of 
the  church  was  by  stoves.  Some  .£23  were  paid  for 
their  erection  in  1810,  and  it  may  be  that  until  that 
time  the  worshippers  had  had  no  other  source  of  heat 
during  the  long  services  than  the  old-fashioned  foot- 
warmers.  In  1813  two  "Russian"  stoves  were  pro- 
vided, but  four  months  later,  whether  because  of  ob- 
jection to  stoves  in  general  or  dislike  of  the  particular 
design  chosen,  it  was  ordered  that  *'the  committee 
who  were  appointed  to  have  stoves  erected  in  the 
church  be  directed  to  have  them  removed."  With 
the  coming  spring  the  matter  was  then  dropped  for 
the  time,  but  the  frosts  of  the  next  December  produced 
the  following  resolution:  "Whereas  it  is  represented 
that  a  number  of  persons  who  worship  in  the  Brick 
Church  are  desirous  that  stoves  should  be  erected 
in  said  church,  .  .  .  Resolved  that  stoves  be  erected." 
This  time  they  remained,  and  at  about  the  period 
when  gas  was  introduced  we  hear  also  of  furnaces. f 
By  that  time  the  idea  that  worship  was  best  carried  on 
under  a  certain  degree  of  bodily  discomfort  had  given 
way  to  the  more  luxurious  modern  view. 

We  now  pass  to  the  outside  of  the  building  and 

♦The  candles  were  supported  in  brass  "chandeliers,"  this  word  then 
having  its  true  etymological  significance. 

t  Croton  water  was  introduced  ten  years  later, 


SHIELD   FROM  THE   BKICK   CIH'RCH  OX 
BEEKMAN   STREET 


■»»      wt   "«  ■ 


IXTEKIOR  OF  THE  lUHCK  CIUK'CH  o.N   BEEKMAN  STliEET  IN  ITS 
ITNAI,  STATE 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  135 

consider  first  its  surroundings.  Its  situation  was 
certainly  attractive,  for  the  City  Hall  Park,  which 
formed  its  western  boundary,  was  probably,  in  the 
early  years  of  Dr.  Spring's  pastorate,  the  most  attrac- 
tive part  of  the  entire  city.  The  City  Hall,  which 
still  ranks  among  the  most  admirable  of  New  York's 
buildings,  was  completed  in  1812,  while  the  Park 
itself  during  this  period  "is  described  as  having  been 
a  beautiful  place,  the  walks  and  grass-plots  being 
trimly  kept,  and  shaded  by  groves  of  elm,  poplar, 
willow  and  eucalyptus."  *  Fronting  upon  it  were 
some  of  the  most  important  buildings  of  the  city  in 
that  day,  such  as  the  New  York  Gardens,  Mechanics' 
Hall,  the  London  Hotel,  the  Park  Theatre,  then  the 
city's  most  fashionable  place  of  amusement,  and 
Tammany  Hall,  besides  the  Brick  Church;  while 
St.  Paul's  Chapel  stood  opposite  the  Park's  southern 
point,  for  in  those  fortunate  days  the  open  space  in- 
cluded the  site  of  the  present  post-office. 

But  what  was  the  external  appearance  of  the  Brick 
Church  itself.^  The  wooden  pale  fence,  erected,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  1809,  continued  till  1840,  when  an 
iron  railing  succeeded  it.  f  The  earlier  structure, 
besides  its  natural  use  in  protecting  the  property, 
served  several  picturesque  purposes.  To  it  were 
fastened  the  chains  which,  from  1810,  were  on  Sun- 
days extended  across  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets 
in  order  to  prevent  any  noise  of  traffic  from  dis- 
turbing the  services.  Against  it,  moreover,  were 
placed  the  stands  and  booths  of  fruit-  and  oyster- 

*  "Mem.  Hist.,  of  N.  Y.,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  202. 

t  When  the  church  was  finally  torn  down,  this  fence  was  removed  to 
the  place  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Stranahan,  in  South  Brooklyn,  where  it  is  stilj 
standing. 


136  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

sellers,  and  especially  of  the  petty  dealers  whose  rich 
harvest-time  was  the  third  and  fourth  of  July.  From 
1828  there  are  frequent  indications  that  these  en- 
croachments upon  the  church's  property  were  making 
the  life  of  the  sexton  *  miserable.  What  is  of  more 
importance,  the  same  facts  suggest  that  by  that  time 
the  Brick  Church  was  beginning  to  be  "down- 
town." On  the  other  hand,  the  mention  in  1815 
(not  many  years  before)  of  a  willow  tree  on  the  church 
grounds,  whose  limbs  overhung  the  street  and  oc- 
casionally needed  trimming,  reminds  us  that  the 
scene  would  nevertheless  have  looked  rural  enough  to 
modern  New  Yorkers. 

Standing  on  Beekman  Street,  we  look  up  at  the 
front  of  the  church  and  are  at  once  reminded  that  its 
well-proportioned  steeple  was  nearly  destroyed  soon 
after  the  coming  of  Mr.  Gardiner  Spring.  On 
Sunday  morning,  May  19th,  1811,  a  destructive  fire 
broke  out  in  the  region  northeast  of  the  Green,  and; 
before  it  could  be  extinguished,  burned  nearly  a 
hundred  buildings.  In  the  midst  of  the  conflagration 
flying  embers  set  fire  to  the  wooden  steeple  of  the 
Brick  Church,  and  it  seemed  to  the  onlookers  that  at 
least  a  portion  of  the  building,  perhaps  the  whole  of  it, 

*  A  few  facts  regarding  the  sexton's  office  may  be  of  interest.  By  a 
minute  of  the  trustees  in  1814,  it  was  declared  to  be  the  duty  of  the  sexton 
"  to  attend  to  ringing  of  the  bell,  opening,  sweeping,  dusting,  and  lighting 
the  church;  and  sweeping  and  cleaning  the  streets  adjacent,  as  required  by 
law;  opening,  sweeping,  and  lighting  the  session  room,  at  all  such  times 
as  are  now  usual  in  the  day  or  evening,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
session,  trustees,  lectures,  and  prayer-meetings  of  the  church."  At  the 
same  time  his  salary  was  fixed  at  $125  per  annum,  while  "other  emolu- 
ments arising  from  the  church,"  such  as  burial  fees,  for  instance,  were 
guaranteed  to  amount  to  $225  more.  During  a  large  part  of  this  period 
the  sexton  was  also  collector  of  pew-rents,  for  which  service  he  received 
five  per  cent,  on  collections.    See  Appendix  K,  p.  528. 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  137 

was  doomed.  How  the  blaze  was  extinguished  is 
made  plain  by  the  following  notice  which  was  ordered 
to  be  inserted  next  day  in  the  daily  papers:  "The 
board  of  trustees  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church, 
deeply  impressed  with  a  grateful  sense  for  the  timely 
and  constant  aid  offered  for  the  preservation  of  the 
said  church  from  the  calamitous  and  destructive  fire 
of  the  19th  instant,  make  in  behalf  of  the  congregation 
their  most  sincere  acknowledgments  to  their  fellow- 
citizens  in  general,  and  more  especially  to  the  un- 
daunted mariner  and  several  others  who  by  the 
[lightning]  conductor  ascended  the  steeple  and  checked 
the  fire  that  had  then  broke  out,  until  more  effectual 
means  arrived,  and  were  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
God  of  saving  the  church."  At  the  same  time  one 
hundred  dollars  was  voted  to  Stephen  McCormick 
(evidently  the  "undaunted  mariner"),  and  half  that 
amount  to  four  other  rescuers,  as  rewards  for  the 
signal  service  thus  rendered,  and  as  the  addresses 
of  the  persons  in  question  were  unknown  and  several 
days'  inquiry  failed  to  discover  them,  a  further  news- 
paper notice  invited  them  to  call  and  receive  the 
money.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  commonly  reported  in 
histories  of  this  period,  though  it  does  not  appear  on 
what  authority,  that  the  hero  of  the  incident  never 
claimed  his  reward. 

If  in  our  examination  of  the  building  we  now  pass 
around  it  toward  the  rear,  and  if  we  imagine  that  it 
is  the  week  of  Mr.  Spring's  installation,  we  observe 
that,  adjoining  the  north  end  of  the  church,  is  a 
smaller  wooden  structure  just  completed.  This  is 
the  "session  and  prayer  room,"  which  had  been 
projected  in  the  preceding  May  and  was  finished  just 


138  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

in  time  for  the  use  of  the  new  pastor.  It  measured 
about  thirty  by  fifty  feet  and  contained  an  assembly 
room,  fitted  with  a  pulpit,  and  having  its  walls,  like 
those  of  the  church,  whitewashed — "The  Old  White 
Lecture  Room,"  as  it  was  affectionately  called  by 
those  who  in  later  years  remembered  it.  Here  the 
weekly  evening  lecture  and  other  meetings  were  now 
held,  and  to  this  room  the  session,  who  heretofore 
had  met  in  the  charity  school-house,  transferred  their 
head-quarters. 

By  1829  the  needs  of  the  church  had  outgrbwu  this 
building,  and  it  was  then  proposed  to  tear  down  the 
old  addition  and  erect  in  its  place  a  "large  and  com- 
modious two-story  brick  session  house."  Accord- 
ing to  the  plan  then  suggested  the  new  building  was 
to  contain  large  rooms  suitable  for  church  meetings 
and  for  the  Sunday-schools  which  had  now  been 
established,*  smaller  rooms  "for  the  pastor,  session, 
trustees  and  for  school  and  church  libraries,  etc.'*^ 
(probably  one  room  was  intended  to  serve  more  than 
one  of  these  uses),  "and  in  addition  two  or  mone 
valuable  and  pleasant  rooms  to  rent."t 

There  were  two  diflBculties  in  the  way  of  this  pro- 
posal. In  the  first  place,  the  trustees  did  not  feel 
able  to  undertake  the  expense.  This  was  overcome 
by  the  guarantee  of  certain  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion that  the  money  should  be  provided  from  other 
sources.  But  it  was  also  necessary,  if  the  plan  to 
rent  certain  of  the  rooms  was  to  be  carried  out,  to 
secure  the  removal  of  the  restriction  in  the  opiginal 
lease  of  the  Beekman  Street  lot  by  which  the  church 

*  As  will  be  described  in  Chapter  XIII. 
t  For  secular  purposes. 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  139 

was  forbidden  to  convert  the  land  "to  private,  secu- 
lar uses."  A  petition  was  accordingly  made  to  the 
Common  Council,  praying  for  such  a  modification  of 
the  original  grant  as  would  permit  the  carrying  out 
of  the  new  plan,  and  this  petition  was  granted. 
This  event  was  important,  not  only  in  its  relation  to 
the  matter  then  in  hand,  but  because  of  the  precedent 
thus  established  of  removing  certain  restrictions  upon 
the  use  of  the  church  property. 

It  was  now  possible  to  proceed  to  the  erection  of  the 
new  building,  called  at  first  the  session  house,  but 
finally  named  the  chapel,  and  by  December,  1832,  it 
had  been  completed  at  a  cost  of  about  $12,000.  It 
was  a  handsome  structure.  Its  windows  were  sepa- 
rated by  pilasters  which  rose  to  the  eaves.  The  roof 
was  considerably  lower  than  that  of  the  main  church, 
and  the  two  buildings  together  made  a  harmonious 
design.  The  arrangement  of  the  interior,  according 
to  the  best  information  obtainable,  was  as  follows: 
on  the  first  floor  directly  adjoining  the  church  (but 
not  communicating  with  it)  were  two  Sunday-school 
rooms,  opening  into  each  other,  one  looking  out  on 
Nassau  Street  and  one  on  the  Green,  Over  these 
rooms  was  the  large  lecture  room.  Still  further  in 
the  rear  on  each  floor  there  were  four  rooms,  two  on 
each  side,  and  between  them,  with  the  entrance  at 
the  north  end,  a  hallway  containing  the  stairs. 
Doubtless  it  was  in  one  of  the  smaller  rooms  on  the 
second  story  that  the  pastor  kept  his  books  and 
prepared  his  sermons,  "that  memorable  study," 
he  calls  it,  "so  enbowered,  so  retired  and  tranquil 
amid  noise  and  uproar."  The  two  small,  rear  rooms 
on  the  first  story  facing  Chatham  Street  (now  Park 


140  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Row)  were  the  ones  originally  designed  for  renting. 
The  trustees  in  the  end  determined  that  they  would 
themselves  provide  the  money  expended  in  the  build- 
ing, which  they  were  enabled  to  do  by  mortgaging 
the  property.  The  interest  on  this  mortgage  was 
provided  by  renting  not  only  the  two  rooms  just 
mentioned,  but  also,  afterward,  with  the  permission 
of  the  city,*  other  rooms  not  required  for  religious 
purposes.  In  about  1840  the  chapel  was  extended 
fourteen  feet  to  the  north  so  as  to  provide  more  space 
that  might  be  "let  for  oflSces." 

The  tenants  to  whom  the  records  refer  were  a 
physician,  an  agent  for  the  Foreign  Mission  Board, 
and  a  publisher  and  book-seller.  The  last  mentioned, 
Mr.  John  S.  Taylor,  opened  his  store  here  soon  after 
the  chapel  was  built  and  continued  it  through  almost 
the  whole  of  this  period.  His  advertisement,  inserted 
in  a  publication  of  1838,  shows  that  his  was  a  business 
not  inappropriately  housed  beneath  the  eaves  of  a' 
church.  It  calls  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the 
"Popular  Religious  Books,  published  by  John  S. 
Taylor,  Theological  and  Sunday-school  Bookseller, 
Brick  Church  Chapel,  New  York."  In  1846  another 
publishing  house  became  the  church's  tenant,  that 
of  Baker  and  Scribner,  whose  successors,  Charles 
Scribner  and  Co.,  and  the  present  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons  have  continued  the  firm's  long  relationship  to  the 
Brick  Church  by  becoming  the  publishers  of  the 
principle  works  of  the  church's  ministers  during  the 
last  half  century. t 

*  In  1835  permission  was  given  to  rent  any  portion  of  the  chapel. 

t  According  to  the  terms  of  the  lease  of  1846  the  trustees  rented  to 
Baker  and  Scribner  for  five  years  "the  two  rooms  on  the  lower  floor  of  the 
Brick  Church  chapel,  one  of   which  fronts  on  Nassau  Street,  the  other 


THE  BRICK  CHTRCH  ON  BEEKMAN  STREET 

Showiiicr  Cliapel  in  the  rear 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  141 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  original  deed  of 
the  land  on  Beekman  Street  the  use  to  which  it  was 
to  be  put  included  the  burial  of  the  dead.  In  the 
days  of  which  we  write  it  was  considered  a  proper 
and  important  part  of  a  church's  duty  to  provide  a 
suitable  place  of  burial  for  the  members  of  its  own 
congregation,  and  the  natural  place  for  this  was  con- 
sidered to  be  the  yard  about  the  church  itself.  Like 
Trinity  and  St.  Paul's,  though  in  a  much  more  re- 
stricted area,  the  Brick  Church  had  thus  surrounded 
itself  with  a  cemetery.  Besides  the  open,  graves 
there  had  been  constructed  early  a  limited  number 
of  vaults  which  were  sold  to  individuals,  and  these 
were  increased  from  time  to  time  until  nearly  all  the 
available  area  had  been  thus  utilized,  and  even  some 
space  beneath  the  sidewalks,  by  permission  of  the 
the  city.  The  flat  tops  of  these  vaults,  level  with 
the  ground  and  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the 
owners,  were  a  familiar  sight  to  all  who  entered  the 
church  or  passed  along  Beekman  Street. 

In  1823  a  city  ordinance  was  passed  prohibiting 
any  further  burial  of  the  deadjsouth  of  Grand  Street.* 
The  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church  had  barely  com- 
pleted some  new  vaults  at  considerable  expense  and 
were  dismayed  at  this  sudden  and  unexpected  enact- 

fronting  on  Park  Row  (with  the  privilege  of  removing  the  single  partition 
between  the  said  two  rooms  for  convenience,  but  at  their  own  expense)." 
Provision,  it  is  interesting  to  note,  was  made  for  a  termination  of  the  lease 
"in  case  the  said  trustees  should  sell  the  said  premises  before  the  ex- 
piration of  this  lease  or  in  case  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York 
should  interfere  with  the  present  rights  of  the  said  trustees  held  under  cer- 
tain acts  of  said  Corporation  to  lease  said  premises  so  as  to  divest  said 
trustees  of  sard  rights." 

*  The  plague  of  yellow  fever  in  1822  was  thought  to  have  started  with 
a  burial  in  Trinity  churchyard.  See  "Westervelt  Manuscripta"  (Lenox 
Library),  p.  14. 


142  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ment,  which,  they  persuaded  themselves,  was  un- 
necessary or  at  least  premature.  One  paragraph  of 
the  memorial  which  they  presented  to  the  corporation 
of  the  city,  stating  their  grievance,  is  sufficiently 
interesting  to  be  quoted.  "Your  petitioners,"  they 
say,  "would  briefly  notice  a  reason  repeatedly  urged 
against  a  discrimination  in  private  vaults"  (such  dis- 
crimination was  what  they  had  petitioned  for)  .  .  . 
"namely,  that  it  savored  of  aristocracy.  The  sug- 
gestion, it  is  believed,  had  great  weight  at  the  time; 
but  it  is  as  fallacious  as  it  was  popular.  Of  the  whole 
number  of  private  vaults  in  this  city,  one-half  are 
supposed  to  be  owned  by  those  who  are  in  moderate 
circumstances,  and  if  the  remaining  half  belong  to 
persons  of  opulence,  who  can  deny  that  there  are 
hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  as  well  able  to  own 
them  as  they."  Possibly  this  argument  did  not  tend 
to  strengthen  their  case. 

At  any  rate,  the  city  stood  by  its  ordinance.  A 
few  months  later  a  second  memorial  was  presented 
by  the  trustees,  rehearsing  the  conditions  of  the 
original  grant  of  their  land  and  asserting  with  some 
reasonableness  that  the  city's  recent  ordinance  pre- 
vented the  church  from  exercising  a  right  which  had, 
in  return  for  a  certain  rent,  duly  paid,  been  promised 
to  them  forever  "without  any  let,  trouble,  hindrance, 
molestation,  interruption,  or  denial."  At  the  same 
time  or  shortly  afterward  an  interment  was  made,  in 
spite  of  the  ordinance,  for  the  purpose  of  testing  in  the 
courts  the  validity  of  the  city's  act.  In  this  contest 
the  church  was  worsted.  But  unconvinced,  they 
again  memorialized  the  city  authorities,  and  followed 
this  up  by  instituting  suit  against  the  city  for  $30,000, 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  143 

damages.  The  sole  issue  of  this  proceeding  is  told 
with  sufficient  clearness  by  the  only  subsequent  refer- 
ence to  the  matter  in  the  trustees'  minutes:  "Ordered 
to  be  paid:  H.  Holden,  Esq.,  costs  of  suit  for  breach 
of  covenant,  $123.93."* 

The  limited  area  around  the  church  was  not,  of 
course,  its  only  burying-ground.  The  Brick  Church 
had  also  its  one-third  part  of  the  Beekman  lots  on  the 
corner  of  North  (afterward  East  Houston)  and 
Chrystie  streets,  where  burials  were  made  throughout 
the  whole  period  now  under  consideration.! 

There  still  remains  to  be  considered  the  vital 
question  of  the  income  and  financial  condition  of  the 
church  during  the  forty  years  covered  by  this  chapter. 
In  the  preceding  period  the  revenue  had  been  derived 
from  collections  and  the  renting  and  sale  of  pews. 
It  became,  however,  more  and  more  desirable  to  de- 
vote the  collections  to  benevolent  objects,  and  at 
length  the  pews  were  made  to  bear  the  burden  alone. 
To  this,  after  the  erection  of  the  chapel,  was  added 
the  income  of  such  rooms  in  that  building  as  were 
rented  for  secular  purposes.  In  1835  this  amounted 
to  $925. 

The  buying  of  a  pew  meant  little  more  than  the 
renting  of  it  with  the  right  to  hold  the  same  year  by 
year  thereafter;  and  on  the  other  hand,  there  were 
decided  drawbacks  to  be  encountered.  Assessments 
for  repairs,  or  to  make  up  a  deficit,  or  to  meet  some 
extraordinary  expense,  were  by  no  means  uncommon. 

*  The  permission  of  the  city,  a  few  years  later,  to  rent  certain  portiona 
of  the  chapel  (see  above,  p.  139),  was  asked  and  granted  as  being  at  least 
a  partial  compensation,  for  the  loss  entailed  by  the  prohibition  of  burials. 

t  It  may  be  added  that  this  land  was  sold  in  1866  for  $64,200.  Ground 
had  been  purchased  in  Evergreen  Cemetery  in  1856. 


144  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

And  yet  from  the  frequent  references  in  the  records, 
there  seem  always  to  have  been  people  who  were 
anxious  to  buy.  It  must  be  added  that  there  seem 
also  to  have  been  people  who  failed  to  pay  their 
annual  tax  or  their  rent,  as  the  case  might  be,  so  that 
the  sale  of  the  pews  thus  confiscated  and  of  others 
that  were  deeded  or  bequeathed  to  the  church  from 
time  to  time,  provided  not  infrequent  opportunities 
of  purchase. 

For  the  first  few  years  after  Mr.  Spring's  installa- 
tion the  treasurer  reported  each  year  a  substantial 
balance.  In  1817,  however,  we  learn  that  an  advance 
in  the  pew-rents  was  necessary  to  keep  the  church 
from  running  behind,  and  there  was  a  still  further 
increase  two  years  later  designed  to  provide  an  un- 
solicited addition  of  $750  to  the  pastor's  salary.  In 
1824,  the  burden  upon  the  pew-holders  being  evi- 
dently a  subject  of  complaint,  he  offered  to  relinquish 
$500  of  his  salary,  if  the  taxes  on  the  pews  should 
be  correspondingly  reduced;  and  the  state  of  the 
treasury  at  that  time  must  have  been  indeed  discour- 
aging, for  the  trustees  went  so  far  as  to  request  that 
he  would  make  the  relinguishment  unconditional. 
This  he  would  not  do,  and  they  were  fain  to  accept 
his  original  proposition.  The  result  was  interesting. 
A  meeting  of  the  men  of  the  church  was  held  at  once, 
proposing  to  restore  the  pastor's  salary  without  delay 
to  the  figure  from  which  it  had  been  reduced,  $3,250, 
by  actually  advancing  the  pew-tax.  It  was  thus 
made  evident  that,  whatever  the  financial  difficulties 
of  the  situation  might  be  (and  there  was  no  doubt 
that  the  church  had  been  forced  to  borrow  money  to 
meet  its  obligations),  the  congregation  stood  behind 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  145 

the  pastor  and  were  unwilling  that  he,  rather  than 
they,  should  be  made  to  suffer. 

Whether  as  a  result  of  this  episode,  or  because  of 
objection  to  the  legal  contest,  being  waged  with  the 
city  at  this  time  about  the  burial-rights,  at  the  next 
election  of  trustees,  in  April,  1825,  the  three  whose 
terms  then  expired  were  not  reelected.  Imme- 
diately the  other  six  handed  in  their  resignations,  and 
although  three  of  these  were  afterward  prevailed 
upon  to  remain,  the  board  when  it  assembled  in  May 
was  distinctly  a  new  body. 

It  had  to  meet,  however,  the  old  problems.  In 
the  next  year  with  a  view  to  extinguishing  the  debt 
and  completing  certain  necessary  work  on  the  build- 
ing, it  was  again  necessary  to  propose  an  extra  pew- 
assessment,  and  to  appeal  directly  to  the  loyalty  of  the 
congregation  for  support  in  this  unpleasant  measure. 
Yet  on  the  w^hole  the  situation  as  then  described  by 
the  trustees,  though  demanding  a  remedy,  was  not 
alarming.  "The  regular  annual  revenue,"  they  say, 
"is  barely  sufficient  to  meet  the  current  yearly  ex- 
penditure," and  "the  debt,  although  not  now  large, 
will  soon  become  so  by  the  accumulation  of  interest." 
Evidently  a  small  increase  in  revenue  would  at  that 
time  have  removed  the  embarrassment. 

From  1832  a  new  source  of  revenue  was  added  by 
the  renting  of  the  rooms  in  the  new  chapel,  as  above 
described,  but  all  of  the  money  so  received  was  re- 
quired in  paying  the  interest  on  the  debt  incurred  in 
the  chapel's  erection,  and  in  the  gradual  reduction 
of  the  debt  itself. 

Meantime  the  difficulty  in  meeting  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  church  continued.     Year  after  year 


146  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  treasurer  reported  a  deficit,  which  even  the  old 
expedient  of  an  advance  in  the  pew-tax  did  not  now 
serve  to  check.*  In  1839  began  a  series  of  loans, 
sometimes  for  current  expenses,  sometimes  for  repairs 
or  alterations.  These  appear  on  the  records  at  rather 
frequent  intervals  and  reveal  a  condition  of  affairs 
which,  to  say  the  least,  was  undesirable. 

But  now  once  more  the  special  emergency  was  the 
occasion  of  showing  the  church's  strength.  At  the 
request  of  the  trustees  in  January,  1841,  the  pastor 
undertook  to  raise  from  the  congregation  a  voluntary 
subscription  for  the  purpose  of  obliterating  the  debt. 
In  less  than  three  weeks'  time  he  was  able  to  put  into 
their  hands  the  sum  of  $10,077.22.  The  subscriptions, 
he  says  in  his  accompanying  report,  ranged  from  $1 
to  $370,  and  came  from  one  hundred  and  forty  differ- 
ent persons.  *'The  claim,"  he  continues,  "has  re- 
ceived the  most  prompt  and  warm  response.  .  . 
Six  thousand  dollars  were  paid  in  by  the  subscribers 
in  a  single  morning,  simply  on  a  public  notice  from 
the  pulpit."  By  means  of  this  generous  contribu- 
tion, the  entire  debt,  except  the  less  troublesome 
mortgage  on  the  chapel  was  at  once  paid  off,  princi- 
pal and  interest,  and  the  congregation  set  its  face  to 
the  future  with  a  new  spirit  of  hopefulness. 

From  this  time  until  1850  the  situation,  although 
not  free  from  anxieties,  was  more  easy.  There  con- 
tinued for  a  time  to  be  a  yearly  deficit,  but  a  part  of 
this  at  least  could  be  met  from  the  sinking  fund,  while 
by  the  same  means  the  old  debt  of  $12,000,  on  the 
chapel  had  been  finally  extinguished.  At  last, 
on   the  very  year   which   closes   the   period   of   our 

*  The  financial  crisis  in  1837  should  be  remembered  in  this  connection. 


THE  TEMPORALITIES  147 

present  study,  the  treasurer  was  able  to  report  that 
the  revenues  had  exceeded  the  expenditures. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  Brick  Church  had 
no  endowment  whatever,  that  in  spite  of  a  narrow 
income  it  not  only  maintained  its  original  building, 
but  twice  over  made  considerable  additions  to  it,  that 
at  the  same  time,  as  we  shall  see  in  later  chapters, 
it  was  carrying  on  a  missionary  and  benevolent  work 
of  constantly  increasing  proportions,  and  that  during 
the  very  years  when  it  was  beginning  to  lose  in  num- 
bers through  the  northward  drift  of  population  it 
nevertheless  succeeded  in  clearing  off  all  indebted- 
ness and  putting  its  work  upon  a  self-supporting 
basis,  we  cannot  but  admire  the  energy  of  its  oflficers 
and  the  generous  loyalty  of  its  people. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PASTOR  AND   THEOLOGIAN:     1810-1850 


"Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is,  that  they  might 
be  saved." — Romans  10  :  1. 

"  Whatever  subordinate  ends,  therefore,  the  Christian  pulpit  may  secure  in  this 
or  the  coming  world,  its  legitimate,  paramount  aim  is  the  glory  of  God  in  the  salva- 
tion of  men." — Gardiner  Spring,  "The  Power  of  the  Pulpit,"  p.  170. 


THE  last  chapter,  although  in  many  of  its 
facts  and  incidents  suggestive  of  the  real 
life  of  the  church,  is  for  the  most  part  only 
a  description  of  the  outer  shell.  It  presents  to  us  in 
detail  the  physical  conditions  under  which  the  work, 
of  the  church  was  carried  on.  We  now  turn  to  study 
that  work  itself,  and  we  shall  begin  by  tracing  the 
career  of  him  who  was  the  church's  leader  throughout 
this  period. 

In  a  sense  the  whole  religious  life  and  activity  that 
then  existed  in  the  Brick  Church,  all  those  matters, 
for  example,  that  will  be  presented  in  the  next  three 
chapters,  form  a  part  of  his  biography.  But  there 
are  certain  more  personal  facts  and  events  which  may 
well  be  treated  by  themselves  in  a  chapter  especially 
devoted  to  him.  And  here  it  will  be  convenient  to 
deal  also  with  all  the  church's  distinctly  theological 
interests  during  these  years,  since  in  them  the  church 
could  hardly  be  said  to  act  at  all  except  in  the  person 
of  its  pastor. 

148 


GARDINER  SPRING   IN  THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF   HIS  PASTORATE 
From  an  oil  portrait  in  the  possession  of  his  great-grandson,  Shepherd  Knapp 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         149 

For  the  whole  period  now  under  observation 
Gardiner  Spring  performed  alone  the  duties  of  min- 
ister of  the  Brick  Church.  Dr.  Rodgers'  active  work 
had  ended,  as  we  know,  before  his  successor  came. 
Even  his  service  as  moderator  at  the  meetings  of  the 
Brick  Church  session  in  1809  and  1810  had  been 
performed  with  great  difficulty  and  frequent  interrup- 
tions. He  was  but  waiting  patiently  for  the  end; 
and  at  length  the  end  came  when  the  new  pastorate 
was  less  than  a  year  old,  on  May  7th,  1811.  It  had 
greatly  cheered  Dr.  Rodgers  that,  when  he  was  called 
to  go,  he  had  already  seen  the  church  moving  forward 
with  promise  under  its  new  leader.  During  those 
last  months,  his  biographer  tells  us,  "he  took  his 
young  colleague  by  the  hand  with  paternal  solicitude 
and  affection,  discovered  great  anxiety  to  promote 
his  usefulness,  and  rejoiced  in  his  talents  and  suc- 
cess." *  Thus  the  mantle  of  Elijah  fell  upon  Elisha's 
shoulders. 

The  task  which  Mr.  Spring  had  assumed  was  ardu- 
ous, and,  except  for  the  force  of  character,  the 
Christian  spirit,  and  the  consecrated  purpose  which 
he  brought  to  his  work,  he  was  imperfectly  prepar'ed. 
*'My  theological  attainments,"  he  says,  "were  very 
limited,"  f  and  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  continue 
as  best  he  could  the  training  and  stocking  of  his  mind. 
He  began  at  once  a  thorough  investigation  of 
Christian  doctrine,  which  he  pursued,  not  only  by 
reading,  but  also  by  conference  and  correspondence 
with  his  older  contemporaries. 

His  progress,  however,  was  necessarily  slow,  for  the 

♦"Rodgers  Mem.,"  p.  277. 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  119. 


150  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

first  demand  upon  his  time  was  the  vigorous  perform- 
ance of  his  daily  ministerial  duties,  and  these  were  so 
engrossing  that  he  seemed  to  have  little  leisure  for 
aught  else.  **I  neglected  everything  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,"  he  says,  '*I  had  a  strong  desire  to 
visit  the  courts,  and  listen  to  the  arguments  of  the 
eminent  jurists  of  the  city ;  but  I  had  no  time  for  this 
indulgence.  I  had  none  for  light  reading,  none  for 
evening  parties,  and  very  little  for  social  visiting,  or 
even  extensive  reading.  Everything  was  abandoned 
for  my  pulpit  ministrations.  .  .  .  Under  God  it  was 
this  laborious  and  unintermittent  effort  that  saved 
me  from  shipwreck. "  *  He  was  abundantly  justified 
in  asserting,  as  he  did,  that  a  faithful  minister  is  in 
the  most  thorough  sense  *'a  working  man." 

Let  him  in  his  own  words  give  us  some  idea  of  his 
method  and  habits  of  work.  "There  is  nothing," 
he  affirms,  "of  which  I  have  been  constrained  to  be 
more  economical,  and  even  covetous,  than  time.  I 
have  ever  been  an  early  riser,  and  even  in  mid-win- 
ter used  to  walk  from  Beekman  Street  f  round  the 
'Forks  of  the  Bowery,'  now  Union  Square,  before  I 
broke  my  fast.  I  usually  went  into  my  study  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  after  my  removal  to  Bond  Street,  more 
generally  at  eight,  though  my  study  was  opposite  the 
City  Hall,  and  more  than  a  mile  from  my  residence."  | 
This  description  of  the  prompt  beginning  of  the  day 
prepares  us  for  his  account  of  the  system  and  regu- 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  104  /. 

t  Dr.  Murray  in  his  "Memorial  Discourse"  (p.  20),  says:  "He  once 
told  me  that  his  first  residence  in  the  city  being  on  Broadway,  near  Canal 
Street,  he  was  obliged  to  walk  across  a  number  of  open  lots  to  get  to  his 
Thursday  lectures,  and  on  dark  nights  stood  sometimes  in  dread  of  assault." 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  105. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         151 

larity  with  which  he  produced  his  sermons.  "For  a 
series  of  years,"  he  says,  "I  rarely  retired  to  my 
pillow  of  a  Lord's  Day  evening  without  having 
selected  my  subject  for  the  following  Lord's  Day."  * 
On  Tuesday  almost  without  exception  he  would  begin 
actual  work  upon  his  sermon, f  and  with  the  same 
regularity  he  brought  his  writing  to  an  end  at  Friday 
noon.  Never  except  in  two  instances,  he  declares, 
had  Saturday  been  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  the 
sermon  for  the  next  day.  It  should  be  added,  how- 
ever, that  when  the  importance  of  the  subject  de- 
manded it,  and  when  the  assistance  of  other  clergy- 
men made  it  possible,  he  would  spend  two,  three,  or 
even  more,  weeks  in  the  preparation  of  one  sermon. 

He  preached  commonly  from  a  manuscript,  but 
when,  as  he  occasionally  did,  he  employed  the  ex- 
temporaneous method,  he  went  to  the  other  extreme, 
using  no  notes  whatever,  preferring  to  be  absolutely 
untrammelled;  and  he  records  his  opinion  that  some 
of  his  best  and  most  profitable  sermons  were  delivered 
in  this  way,  by  a  method  "so  literally  extemporaneous 
that  from  beginning  to  end  I  did  not  know  beforehand 
what  would  be  my  next  sentence."  J  This  success, 
however,  he  points  out,  was  the  result  of  previous 
mental  discipline,  in  which  the  regular  use  of  the  pen 
had  played  a  considerable  part. 

In  regard  to  his  written  sermons  it  is  significant  in 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  110. 

t  In  his  "Letter  to  a  Young  Clergyman"  ("Fragments from  the  Study 
of  a  Pastor,"  1838,  p.  117),  Dr.  Spring  says:  "One  sermon  a  week,  well 
planned,  well  digested,  carefully  written,  and  faithfully  applied,  is  labor 
enough  for  any  man  who  allows  himself  any  time  for  intellectual  improve- 
ment." He  adds  that,  in  that  case,  "you  may  draw  upon  your  Text  Book 
for  two  or  three  others  without  much  preparation." 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  111. 


152  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

this  connection  to  hear  him  say  that  when  sometimes 
he  had  begun  a  sermon  without  any  fixed  method 
in  his  mind,  he  had  almost  always  found  it  lost  labor. 
"For  the  most  part,"  he  says,  "my  divisions  and  ar- 
rangements have  been  thoroughly  premeditated ;  and 
so  thoroughly  that  ...  I  have  in  many  instances 
written  the  application  first,  and  the  body  of  my  dis- 
course last."* 

These  facts  in  regard  to  his  persevering  and  meth- 
odical industry  go  far  toward  explaining  the  success 
of  Gardiner  Spring  as  a  preacher.  But,  of  course, 
method  could  have  produced  but  a  mediocre  result, 
had  it  not  been  inspired  by  something  more  spontane- 
ous and  personal  in  the  man  himself,  and  been  pro- 
vided with  good  material  on  which  to  work.  For  the 
first  of  these  necessities  we  have  his  declaration,  ut- 
tered with  enthusiasm,  that  he  "loved  the  work  of 
writing  sermons  and  preaching  the  gospel."  f  To 
him  the  routine  and  the  system  of  it  all  were  no  drudg-- 
ery,  for  his  whole  heart  was  in  it.  There  w^as  no 
other  occupation  in  which  he  took  so  much  delight. 
And  as  for  the  second  necessity,  material  to  work  on, 
his  strongly  acquisitive  and  fertile  brain  kept  him 
well  supplied.  His  own  reference  to  this  subject  is 
interesting,  and  especially  because  it  incidentally  dis- 
pels any  notion  that  he  was  merely  a  student  of 
books,  as  we  may  have  hastily  assumed.  He  was 
also,  as  he  here  shows  us,  a  student  of  life.  "I  have 
rarely  been  embarrassed  for  want  of  subjects,"  he 
said  in  his  later  years.  "The  wonderful  facility  with 
which  one  subject  leads  to  another,  the  state  of  the 
congregation,  an  interview  with  some  individual  or 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  112.  f  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  106. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         153 

family,  a  watchful  observance  of  the  leadings  of  Divine 
Providence,  intercourse  with  ministerial  brethren, 
some  unexpected  suggestion  during  the  night-watches, 
a  solitary  ride  on  the  saddle,*  my  index  rerum  and 
the  inexhaustible  treasures  of  the  Bible,  furnished 
me  with  subjects  which  I  have  not  yet  overtaken."  f 

But  we  have  yet  to  observe  the  most  important 
characteristic  of  Mr.  Spring's  plan  of  work.  Of 
greater  significance  than  his  natural  talents,  his  strong 
personality,  his  enthusiasm,  or  his  faithfulness,  was 
the  high  aim  which  he  held  constantly  before  him. 
He  was  literally  possessed  by  a  great  determination  to 
use  all  his  power  and  opportunity  in  the  reclaiming 
of  sinful  men  and  the  establishing  of  them  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Not  to  write  learned  or  elegant  or 
striking  sermons  was  the  purpose  he  had  set  before 
himself,  but  "by  the  foolishness  of  preaching"  to  save 
men  from  sin.  He  was  not  even  content  to  address 
himself  to  the  less  urgent  needs  of  those  who  were 
already  Christians,  but  from  the  beginning  labored 
"rather  with  the  view  of  being  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  sinners,  than  of  comforting  the  people 
of  God."  J 

How  serious  and  deep-seated  this  purpose  in  him 
was,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  maintained  it  in  face 
of  the  greatest  obstacle  of  all,  namely  the  surprise  and 

*  Dr.  Murray  says,  "  He  loved  to  recall  the  incidents  of  the  earlier 
period  of  his  ministry;  and  on  several  occasions,  while  riding  with  him  to 
funerals,  it  seemed  to  me  like  the  telling  of  some  curious  dream  to  hear  him 
say  in  the  midst  of  some  busy  street,  shadowed  by  massive  buildings; 
'There  ran  a  stream,  and  there  is  the  spot  over  which  I  used  to  jump  my 
horse  in  my  afternoon  rides  years  ago,  during  which  I  composed  my  lecture 
for  the  evening.'"    ("Memorial  Discourse,"  p.  20.) 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  112. 

j  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  109. 


154  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

criticism  of  some  of  those  who  were  his  best  friends. 
Both  the  congregation  and  the  officers  of  the  church, 
he  tells  us,  were  eager,  when  he  first  began  his  work 
among  them,  that  their  minister  should  win  the  popu- 
lar ear.  Not  that  this  was  their  chief  desire,  but 
they  not  unnaturally  wished  to  see  him  cultivate  such 
qualities  in  his  sermons  as  would  draw  large  numbers 
to  the  church  and  keep  them  there.  And  perhaps  he 
would  not  have  been  greatly  blameworthy  had  he 
adopted  their  point  of  view.  On  the  contrary,  he 
showed  the  depth  of  his  conviction  by  refusing  to 
forfeit  anything  whatsoever  to  the  lower  motive. 
He  boldly  preached  a  sermon  to  his  own  people  from 
the  ironical  text,  "Speak  unto  us  smooth  things,"  and 
by  it  succeeded  in  establishing  once  for  all,  as  the 
rule  of  his  preaching  in  the  Brick  Church  and  as  the 
test  for  judging  it,  that  a  sermon  should  aim  to  please 
God,  whether  it  pleased  men  or  not. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  man  so  strongly 
moved  by  conscientious  considerations,  should  have 
had  doubts  from  time  to  time  about  the  value  of  his 
work.  This  was,  at  any  rate,  the  case  with  Mr. 
Spring.  There  were  periods  during  his  early  ministry 
when  he  was  utterly  discouraged.  "Many  a  time, 
after  preaching,"  he  writes,  "did  I  remain  long  in  the 
pulpit,  that  I  might  not  encounter  the  faces  of  the 
people  as  I  left  the  church,  and  many  a  time,  when  1 
left  it,  did  I  feel  that  I  could  never  preach  another 
sermon."  * 

This  depression  in  regard  to  the  real  usefulness  of 
his  ministry  was  by  no  means  the  only  great  diflSculty 
by  which  he  was  beset  in  those  early  days.     His  health 

*  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  pp.  21  /. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         155 

threatened  to  give  way  and  frequently  caused  him 
serious  anxiety.  In  1813  it  was  twice  necessary  to 
employ  a  ministerial  assistant  for  him  on  account  of 
his  "feeble  state,"  and  during  the  next  year  he  was 
compelled  to  leave  his  work  altogether  for  a  couple 
of  months. 

A  still  more  serious  diflSculty  in  those  early  years 
was  the  doubt  entertained  by  a  number  of  his  Presby- 
terian associates  in  regard  to  his  orthodoxy.  As  we 
have  seen  already,  he  had  been  received  under  care 
of  Presbytery  with  a  good  deal  of  hesitation  on  this 
score.  After  he  began  his  regular  preaching  in  New 
York,  the  feeling  of  uncertainty  in  regard  to  him  in- 
creased rather  than  diminished.  It  was  a  time  when 
theological  questions  excited  the  greatest  interest  in 
all  the  churches,  so  that  any  supposed  peculiarity 
of  doctrine,  even  on  points  of  secondary  importance, 
would  at  once  be  seized  upon  with  avidity.  Congre- 
gations enjoyed  and  expected  theological  preaching 
from  their  pastors,  so  that  almost  invariably  the 
sermons  preached  on  Sunday  supplied  to  the  critics 
of  orthodoxy  abundant  material  for  the  coming  week. 

Mr.  Spring,  moreover,  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy 
with  this  theological  interest  and  his  sermons  were 
distinctly  of  the  theological  type.  This  does  not 
imply  that  he  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of  the  sermon's 
practical  purpose.  On  the  contrary,  that  was  con- 
stantly and  prevailingly  before  him;  but  he  was 
convinced  that  that  purpose  could  hardly  be  achieved 
except  by  the  theological  mode  of  approach.  "Men 
who  complain  of  doctrinal  preaching,"  said  he,  "are 
strangers  to  the  worth  and  power  of  practical  preach- 
ing. ...  I  do  not  see  how  any  man  can  preach 


156  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

practically  who  does  not  preach  doctrinally,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  Christian  doctrine  is  truth  in 
theory,  and  Christian  practice  is  truth  in  action."  * 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  readily  be  seen  that 
any  differences  between  the  theological  views  of  Mr. 
Spring  and  those  of  other  Presbyterian  clergymen  of 
the  city  would  soon  be  thoroughly  known  and  become 
the  subject  of  anxious  consideration. 

Now  Mr.  Spring  had  been  somewhat  influenced 
by  what  was  known  as  the  New  England  Theology, 
in  the  midst  of  which  he  had  grown  up;  and  New 
England  Theology,  though  Calvinistic  in  its  basic 
principles,  was  regarded  with  grave  suspicion  by 
the  New  York  Calvinists.  Mr.  Spring's  father  was  a 
follower  of  Dr.  Hopkins  of  Newport,  one  of  the  New 
England  leaders;  and  the  son  in  his  sermons  in  the 
Brick  Church  gave  some  reason  for  fearing  that  he 
also  might  be  a  Hopkinsian.  When  it  was  said  that 
Dr.  Mason,  preaching  in  the  church  on  Murray 
Street,  in  his  denunciations  of  New  England  divinity 
made  "unmistakable  allusions  to  a  rising  young 
preacher,  who  was  suspected  of  favoring  some  pecul- 
iar views  of  the  New  England  School,"  the  reference 
was  to  the  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church. f  The  Rev. 
Ezra  Stiles  Ely  published  a  book  entitled  "The  Con- 
trast," which,  in  its  discussion  of  the  difference  be- 
tween Hopkinsian  and  Calvinistic  theology,  was 
plainly  aimed  at  the  same  person.  Such  attacks  as 
these  he  could  well  afford  to  ignore  except  so  far  as 
preaching  the  truth  "more  plainly  and  pungently"  J 
was  an  answer.     On  the  other  hand,  he  felt  bound  to 

*  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  116.  t  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  136. 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  129. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         157 

give  full  and  frank  replies  to  a  series  of  questions 
propounded  to  him  in  writing  by  certain  members  of 
the  Presbytery,  who  had  been  disturbed  by  his  sup- 
posed errors,  and  who  in  a  courteous  and  straight- 
forward manner  sought  to  learn  just  how  far  their 
fears  were  well  grounded. 

Some  ground  there  was.  Mr.  Spring  had,  in 
truth,  adopted  certain  Hopkinsian  views  and  was  by 
no  means  slow  to  express  them.  Especially  he  made 
much  of  a  distinction  between  " natural "  and  "moral" 
inability  to  become  holy,  the  former  of  which  he 
denied,  against  the  old  Calvinists,  while  the  latter 
he  accepted,  with  them.  It  would  be  difficult  perhaps 
to  awaken  any  enthusiasm  on  the  subject  nowadays, 
or  to  explain  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
Mr.  Spring  contended  that  men  have  in  themselves 
"all  the  natural  faculties  that  are  necessary  to  holi- 
ness," and,  if  disposed  to  use  them  aright,  would  be 
holy,  since  he  at  the  same  time  admitted,  nay, 
urgently  asserted,  that  the  total  depravity  of  human 
nature  creates  "an  invincible  aversion  to  holiness," 
and  that  the  "moral  inability"  thus  produced  is  actu- 
ally innate  in  the  human  heart.  *  But  at  the  time 
of  which  we  write,  this  subject  aroused  the  keenest 
interest,  and  Mr.  Spring's  position  was  regarded  as 
more  than  questionable.  There  were,  besides,  other 
New  England  views  of  smaller  importance,  which, 
with  more  or  less  certainty,  he  was  prepared  to  urge 
as  a  modification  of  the  older  Calvinism. 

All  this,  however,  was  far  from  amounting  to  an 
acceptance  of  Hopkinsianism  as  a  whole.  The  most 
characteristic   doctrines   in   that  system,  as  he  took 

*  Spring's  "Essays"  (1813),  p.  35,  note. 


158  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

pains  to  assert,  he  had  always  emphatically  rejected. 
He  did  not  believe,  for  instance,  that  God's  absolute 
sovereignty  in  all  things  should  be  so  construed  as  to 
make  him  the  direct  cause  of  sinful  as  well  as  of  holy 
actions.  Nor  did  he  believe  in  "unconditional  sub- 
mission," the  doctrine  that  a  man  ought  so  wholly  to 
resign  himself  to  the  divine  will  as  to  be  ready  to  be 
damned  for  the  glory  of  God.  The  truth  was  that 
he  remained,  after  all,  a  Calvinist  of  the  stricter  sort, 
yet  one  who  had  come  near  enough  to  the  New  Eng- 
landers  to  share  some  of  their  good  points,  while 
maintaining  his  own  freedom  and  avoiding  their 
extreme  positions  By  degrees  this  became  plain  to 
all,  and  in  the  end,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  sus- 
picious in  his  theology,  he  was  accepted  as  a  champion 
of  orthodoxy. 

It  should  be  added  at  this  point  that  his  relation  to 
the  Hopkinsians  had  given  him  something  far  better 
than  the  few  minor  doctrines  he  had  adopted  from 
them.  It  had  early  given  him  the  power  to  appreciate 
men  from  whom  he  continued  to  differ  on  many  im- 
portant points.  It  was  no  small  thing,  at  a  time  of 
theological  controversy  and  in  a  man  whose  own 
views  were  always  clear-cut  and  positive,  that  he 
could  in  so  large  a  measure  keep  his  Christian  sym- 
pathies free  from  the  influence  of  intellectual  preju- 
dice; and  the  characteristic  which  we  here  observe 
was  without  doubt  one  of  those  that  most  contributed 
to  the  large  usefulness  of  his  career.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  will  be  interesting  to  note  two  passages  from 
his  autobiography  which  exhibit  admirably  his  liberal- 
mindedness.  In  mentioning  at  some  length  the  pub- 
lished sermons  which  he  had  read  with  most  profit. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN  159 

he  says,  "I  do  not  hesitate  to  inckide  the  name  of 
Emmons"  (that  name  was  to  strict  Presbyterians  like 
a  red  rag  to  a  bull),  "because,  while  in  my  judgment 
he  has  some  errors,  he  has  more  truth  than  any  writ- 
er whose  works  have  fallen  under  my  notice.  The 
young  minister  who  refuses  to  read  Emmons  because 
his  name  has  been  proscribed  by  the  Princeton 
reviewers,  will  remain  ignorant  of  truth  which,  as  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  he  ought  to  know."  *  The 
second  passage  is  still  more  significant.  He  has  just 
been  speaking  at  length  of  certain  Hopkinsian  doc- 
trines from  which  he  strongly  dissented.  Then  he 
continues:  "Great  and  good  men  have  been  the 
zealous  advocates  of  the  views  here  animadverted  on, 
nor  are  we  among  those  who  have  called  in  question 
the  excellence  of  their  Christian  character.  As  a 
class  I  have  never  known  more  godly  men.  Men  of 
greater  humility,  greater  self-denial,  greater  devoted- 
ness  to  the  interests  and  enlargement  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  have  never  existed  in  New  England  than 
the  disciples  of  Dr.  Hopkins.  If  their  opposers  had 
known  them  as  w^ell  as  I  have  known  them,  I  am 
confident  their  prejudices  would  vanish."! 

It  is  certainly  pleasant  to  note  these  expressions  of 
generous  sympathy,  and  the  tolerant  spirit  which  they 
display.  At  the  same  time,  we  must  not  give  them 
an  exasreerated  meanino'.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
outside  the  pale  of  Calvinism  Mr.  Spring's  views  were 
not  so  free  from  bias.  He  had  not  much  patience,  for 
instance,  with  the  so-called  New  Haven  Theology  f 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  114. 
t  Ibid,  Vol.  II,  pp.  14  /. 

t  Yet  see  below  his  attitude  toward  the  allied  New  School  Presby- 
terians. 


160  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

of  Dr.  N.  W.  Taylor,  with  its  complete  denial  of 
native  depravity;  he  could  countenance  the  excom- 
munication of  a  woman  from  his  church  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  she  disbelieved  in  the  eternal  pun- 
ishment of  the  wicked,  the  Universalist  heresy;  he 
frankly  regarded  the  papacy  as  antichrist,  and  af- 
firmed that  he  actually  preferred  infidelity  to  Roman 
Catholicism.  But,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  passages 
quoted  above,  among  the  different  kinds  of  Calvinist 
(and  they  were  many  and  none  too  amicable),  Mr. 
Spring  set  a  notable  example  of  liberality.  "I  do 
not  ask,"  he  said,  "that  in  every  particular  my 
brethren  should  subscribe  to  my  creed.  I  only  ask 
that  they  '  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  containing 
the  system  of  doctrine  contained  in  the  Holy  Script- 
ures.' .  .  .  Few  in  this  age  of  inquiry,  believe  every 
word  of  it.  Nor  did  our  fathers.  I  myself  made  two 
exceptions  to  it,  when  I  was  received  into  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York.  ...  I  could  specify  more 
points  in  which  not  a  few  of  our  ministers  and  rul- 
ing elders  do  not  exactly  agree  with  our  standards. 
Yet  they  are  all  honest  Calvinists.  .  .  .  The  iron 
bed  of  Procrustes  is  not  suited  to  the  spirit  of 
the  age."  *  We  shall  shortly  have  occasion  to  ob- 
serve how  at  an  important  historic  crisis  he  urged 
in  vain  that  his  own  liberal  attitude  be  al- 
lowed to  guide  the  counsels  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  opinions  and  char- 
acteristics which  have  been  described  were,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  ministry,  as  clear-cut  and  mature  as 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  II,  p.  21. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN  161 

they  appear  in  some  of  the  quotations  by  which  they 
have  been  illustrated,  and  which  have  been  derived 
in  a  number  of  instances  from  utterances  of  his  later 
years.  Yet  in  a  less  complete  form  they  were  a  true 
part  of  his  original  mental  and  spiritual  equipment. 
They  plainly  make  their  appearance,  for  instance,  in 
his  ''Essays  on  the  Distinguishing  Traits  of  Christian 
Character,"  published  in  1813,  to  which,  as  his  first 
printed  book,  a  few  paragraphs  may  properly  be 
devoted. 

This  small  volume,  which  ran  through  nine  edi- 
tions, was  the  outcome  of  the  theological  controversy, 
already  described,  in  regard  to  the  two  kinds  of 
"inability,"  yet  I  believe  a  reader  of  the  present  day 
would  be  surprised  at  the  practical  vein  in  which  it 
is  written.  It  distinctly  is  not  controversial  in  tone, 
but  makes  a  direct  and  continual  appeal  to  the  wills 
of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  This  was  in  accord 
with  Mr.  Spring's  often  expressed  ideal  of  what 
Christian  preaching  and  teaching  should  be.  In  the 
first  five  chapters  he  exhibits  the  several  traits  of 
character  "that  cannot  be  relied  on  as  conclusive 
evidence  of  genuine  religion."*  These  are,  a  mor- 
ality which,  however  excellent,  proceeds  from 
selfish  motives;  observance  of  the  outward  forms 
of  religion,  however  assiduous;  a  merely  intellect- 
ual apprehension  of  religious  truth,  however  or- 
thodox; the  conviction  of  sin  without  genuine  re- 
pentance; and  a  merely  inward  assurance  of  conver- 
sion and  salvation  unaccompanied  by  the  evidences 
of  a  redeemed  character.  In  the  rest  of  the 
book  he  describes,  on   the   other  hand,  those   traits 

♦"Essays"  (1813),  p.  vi. 


162  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

which  "may  be  relied  upon,  without  danger  of  de- 
ception." * 

It  is  no  small  commendation  to  say  that  after  a 
hundred  years  and  in  spite  of  all  the  doctrinal  modi- 
fications that  have  taken  place  in  that  time,  this  book 
still  provides  profitable  reading,  is  still  a  practical 
book.  Practical,  it  should  be  added,  for  one  sole 
purpose,  the  awakening  of  sinners  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  perilous  state  and  of  their  absolute  need 
of  Christian  salvation.  It  does  not  deal  with  every- 
day morals  except  as  they  are  directly  related  to  that 
one  momentous  subject.  It  does  not  attempt  to 
apply  Christian  principles  to  the  details  of  daily 
life.  It  does  not  even  undertake  to  train  the  already 
converted  man  in  higher  ways  of  holiness.  Its  one 
aim,  pursued  with  extraordinary  force  and  persistence, 
is  the  bringing  of  the  sinner  to  the  feet  of  Christ. 

Occasionally  Mr.  Spring  had  some  misgivings  in 
regard  to  a  possible  one-sidedness  in  his  message.  "I 
early  found,"  he  says  in  a  curious  passage,  "that  I 
could  more  easily  prepare  a  good  sermon  from  an 
awakening  and  alarming  subject,  than  from  one  that 
is  more  comforting.  The  fact  is,  I  knew  more  of  the 
terrors  of  the  law  than  the  preciousness  of  the  gospel. 
.  .  .  The  difficulty  of  preaching  well  on  the  more  at- 
tractive and  winning  themes,  has  sometimes  alarmed 
me,  and  made  me  fear  lest,  after  having  '  preached  to 
others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway.'"  f  In  this,  it 
is  hardly  needful  to  say,  he  maligned  himself:   even 

*  The  titles  of  the  chapters  indicate  sufficiently  what  these  are:  namely, 
Love  to  God,  Repentance,  Faith,  Humility,  Self-denial,  The  Spirit  of 
Prayer,  Love  to  the  Brethren,  Non-conformity  to  the  World,  Growth  in 
Grace,  and  Practical  Obedience. 

t  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  1,  pp.  109  /. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN  163 

in  his  early  years  he  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
awful  subjects  of  judgment.  But  the  confession  does 
certainly  throw  light  upon  a  prevailing  tendency  of 
his  thought. 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  his  Essays  he  began  the 
custom  of  preaching  sermons  in  series,  sometimes  two 
or  three,  sometimes  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  on 
the  same  general  topic.  Indeed,  the  first  series  con- 
sisted of  more  than  a  hundred  discourses,  and  was 
really  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  whole  system  of 
theology.  He  himself  describes  it  as  "the  great  effort 
of  my  life,"  and  says  that  in  the  preparation  of  it 
he  spent  '*more  than  three  years  of  laborious  and 
continuous  study."  *  A  few  sermons  from  one  or 
another  series,  written  in  later  years,  still  exist  in  the 
original  manuscript,  and  not  only  their  bulk  but  the 
inscriptions  on  their  front  pages  create  a  feeling  of 
respect,  almost  amounting  to  awe,  for  both  the 
preacher  whose  industry  and  research  produced  them 
and  the  audiences  to  whom  they  were  delivered. 
Thus  we  find  that  in  February  of  1826  he  was  engaged 
on  "System  No.  VI,"  on  "Divine  Revelation,"  while 
in  November  of  the  same  year  he  had  already  reached 
"System  No.  XVIII,"  on  "The  Goodness  of  God." 
In  1828  "Series  of  Discourses  No.  LII,"  on  "The 
Method  of  Salvation"  was  being  delivered.  (It  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  on  the  cover  of  the  still-existing 
sermon  in  this  series,  its  individual  theme  being  "The 
Nature  of  the  Christian  Atonement,"  is  added  this 
instructive  legend,  "All  wrong.  G.  Spring,  February, 
1841.")  In  1829  "Directions  for  Anxious  Sinners" 
was  the  subject  of  "  Series  of  Discourses  No.  LXV." 

♦"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  pp.  17/. 


164  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Much  of  the  material  thus  laboriously  produced  was 
doubtless  incorporated  in  his  later  books. 

In  1822  Dr.  Spring,  for  by  this  time  he  had  received 
the  degree  of  D.D.,  took  the  occasion  of  the  church's 
being  closed  for  repairs  to  go  abroad  for  four  or  five 
months.  He  had  been  invited  to  make  the  voyage 
as  guest  of  one  of  the  members  of  his  church,  and 
hoped  that  this  might  prove  an  effectual  measure  for 
the  restoration  of  his  health.  In  this  he  was  not 
disappointed,  but  the  sights  of  Europe,  its  "scenes 
of  splendor,  and  of  folly,  and  of  sin,"  and  especially 
the  evidences  of  superstition  which  he  observed  there, 
seem  to  have  disgusted  and  depressed  him.  His 
chief  pleasure  had  been  found  in  the  ocean  voyages 
and  the  friends  whose  companionship  he  had  en- 
joyed. 

Thirteen  years  later  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  again 
on  a  more  important  and  more  interesting  journey, 
but  before  speaking  of  that,  a  brief  reference  must 
be  made  to  an  incident  occurring  in  the  interval.  In 
the  summer  of  1832  there  was  a  dreadful  outbreak  of 
Asiatic  cholera  in  New  York.  More  than  a  hundred 
persons  perished  every  day,  nearly  a  thousand  in  one 
week.  The  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  churches 
in  earlier  days  had  already  set  a  high  standard  of 
conduct  in  such  emergencies,  and  Dr.  Spring  was 
not  the  one  to  lower  it.  He  might  possibly  have 
withdrawn  from  the  city  without  special  blame,  as 
it  was  time  for  his  annual  vacation,  but,  instead, 
he  made  announcement  that  as  long  as  the  danger 
lasted  he  would  remain  in  the  city  with  his  people. 
Through  the  summer  he  ministered  to  the  sick 
and  dying  by  personal  visitation,  while  to  those  who 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN  165 

had  as  yet  escaped  he  brought  cheer  and  strength, 
both  by  the  regular  services  of  the  church,  and  still 
more  by  a  prayer-meeting  held  daily  at  six  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  for  many  weeks,  to  which  people  of  all 
denominations  came  in  large  numbers.  This  inci- 
dent is  not  mentioned  here  because  it  was  the  greatest 
proof  of  his  faithfulness — there  were  a  thousand  days 
of  inconspicuous,  and  for  the  most  part  unrecorded, 
service  which  really  counted  for  more  in  his  ministry — 
but  this  is  at  least  an  incident  easily  grasped,  and  it 
will  perhaps  serve  as  well  as  any  to  prepare  us  for  the 
strong:  bond  of  reverent  affection  which  had  been 
growing  up  between  the  people  and  their  pastor,  and 
which  in  1835,  when  he  started  on  his  second  journey 
to  Europe,  already  alluded  to,  found  opportunity  to 
express  itself  in  an  appropriate  and  emphatic  way. 
He  had  been  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly 
as  its  delegate  to  the  Congregational  Union  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales.  He  was  also  delegate  to  the  meetings 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  London 
and  the  French  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  Paris, 
and  he  was  to  attend  besides  several  other  important 
meetings.  It  was  almost  a  diplomatic  mission,  its 
purpose  being  to  draw  together  Christians  living  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  both  the  Brick 
Church  and  its  pastor  made  extraordinary  prepara- 
tions. The  people  collected  a  purse  of  $2,500  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  the  journey,  while  he,  until  then 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  French  tongue,  mastered  it  in 
three  months  under  two  teachers,  with  such  success 
that  he  was  not  only  able  to  write  in  French  his 
address  for  the  French  Society,  but  to  pronounce  it 
(as  he  says  with  pardonable  pride)  "almost  without 


166  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

any  foreign  accent."  *  Then  came  the  time  for  his 
departure,  and  on  that  occasion  his  people,  through  a 
committee,  presented  to  him  a  letter  which  tells  more 
of  the  relations  that  existed  between  them  than  could 
a  whole  chapter  of  explanations.  It  is  possible  to 
quote  but  a  part  of  it: 

"It  is  no  light  matter  for  any  Christian  church  to 
be  deprived,  even  for  a  few  weeks,  of  the  stated  minis- 
trations of  a  beloved  pastor;  but  in  a  case  like  the 
present,  where  the  church  is  large,  and  its  members 
[are]  scattered  over  the  whole  extent  of  a  great  com- 
mercial city,  the  population  of  which  is  ever  changing, 
and  where  the  separation  is  not  for  a  few  weeks  only, 
but  for  months,  the  trial  is  vastly  greater.  .  .  .  But 
the  objects  of  the  mission  were  understood  to  be  of 
such  an  interesting  nature  that  the  church  has  not 
felt  itself  at  liberty  to  interpose  an  objection,  however 
great  the  sacrifice — more  especially  as  it  feels  that  the 
confidence  in  their  pastor,  [expressed]  by  the  General 
Assembly,  has  not  been  misplaced.  .  .  . 

"But  however  much  the  members  of  our  local  com- 
munion may  feel  honored  by  the  selection  of  your- 
self, their  beloved  pastor,  for  these  high  and  responsi- 
ble trusts,  or  however  strong  may  be  their  confidence 
in  your  ability,  under  God,  to  discharge  the  duties 
devolving  upon  you,  with  credit  to  yourself  and  your 
constituents,  and  far  above  all  with  acceptance  to 
your  divine  IVlaster,  yet  the  moment  of  separation  will 
be  painful  to  a  degree  which  language  can  but  faintly 
and  inadequately  express.  The  long  and  intimate, 
the  profitable  and  happy  relationship  which  we  have 
reason  to  believe  has  subsisted  between  yourself  and 

♦  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  II,  p.  111. 


GARDINER   SPHINC    IN   THE   LATER   YEARS  OF   HIS   PASTORATE 

From  a  photosrapli 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         167 

us,  the  thousand  endearing  and  sweet  recollections 
which  rush  upon  our  minds,  the  depth  and  the 
strength  of  the  affection  which  we  entertain  for  you, 
and  which  we  fondly  believe,  however  little  we  may 
deserve  it,  is  also  cherished  for  us  by  you  in  return — 
all  make  us  to  feel  that  the  present  is  no  common 
parting.  .  .  . 

"Allow  the  undersigned,  therefore.  Reverend  and 
Dear  Sir,  in  behalf  of  the  church  in  whose  name  they 
have  been  deputed  as  a  committee  to  act  on  this  oc- 
casion, to  give  you  a  parting  assurance  of  their  high 
regard  for  your  person  in  social  life,  and  their  most 
affectionate  attachment  to  you  as  a  faithful  minister 
of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  an  attachment  that  has 
been  increasing  through  a  long  series  of  years,  during 
which,  at  all  times,  in  seasons  of  plague  and  pestilence, 
of  personal  peril  and  public  danger,  they  have  ob- 
served and  marked  your  devotedness  to  the  cause  of 
your  Master,  and  the  zeal,  perseverance,  and  activity 
with  which  your  laborious  and  often  painful  duties 
have  been  discharged.  .  .  . 

"Allow  us  likewise  and  in  conclusion  to  request 
from  yourself  a  continuance  of  your  prayers  in  our 
behalf — prayers  that  have  been  so  long  put  up  for  us, 
and,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  so  often  blessed — that 
we  may  be  preserved  in  unity  and  concord,  and  kept 
steady  in  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  and 
that  through  God's  rich  mercy  we  may  each  and  all  of 
us  be  spared  to  witness  your  return  with  renovated 
health,  crowned  with  abundant  success  in  the  objects 
of  your  mission,  and  with  increased  means  of  private 
and  ministerial  usefulness.     Farewell." 

Only  two  other  items  remain  to  be  added  to  this 


1G8  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

already  extended  chapter.  The  first  concerns  the 
action  of  the  Brick  Church  and  its  pastor  in  the  pro- 
ceedings that  led  to  the  unhappy  division  of  the 
Presbyterians  into  the  Old  and  the  New  Schools. 
While  Dr.  Spring  was  absent  in  Europe  a  controversy, 
due  to  the  spread  of  the  New  Haven  Theology  among 
some  of  the  Presbyterians,  came  to  a  climax,  and  in 
1837  the  General  Assembly,  in  which  the  staunch 
Calvinists  had  control,  cut  off  certain  western  synods 
by  what  were  called  the  Disowning  or  Exscinding 
Acts.  Dr.  Spring,  as  we  know,  rejected  entirely  the 
New  Haven  teaching;  he  was  prepared  to  oppose  it 
by  all  proper  means;  but  he  did  not  approve  of  the 
Exscinding  Acts  and  he  vigorously  protested  against 
them.  "Error,"  he  said,  "has  never  been  eradicated 
from  the  church  by  the  severe  process  of  adjudication. 
Where  errors  are  not  essential  in  their  character.  .  . 
the  most  effectual  means  of  opposing  their  progress 
is  the  diffusion  of  light  and  the  exercise  of  love.  .  .  -. 
liCt  the  Church  go  forth  unmanacled  to  the  great  work 
of  converting  the  world."  *  When  however,  in  spite 
of  protest,  the  division  had  been  accomplished.  Dr. 
Spring  and  his  church,  since  it  was  no  longer  a  ques- 
tion how  others  should  be  treated,  but  what  they 
themselves  believed,  unhesitatingly  took  their  place 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Old  School.  Blame,  Dr.  Spring 
tells  us,  was  imputed  to  them  by  both  parties,  for  what 
was  deemed  their  neutrality.  He  claimed,  however, 
that  they  had  not  been  neutral.  Their  action  had 
been,  not  negative,  but  positive  throughout.  It  had 
been  controlled  throughout  by  the  same  clear  and  con- 
sistent principles.     The  plain  fact  was  that  they  had 

♦  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  II,  p.  55. 


PASTOR  AND  THEOLOGIAN         169 

allowed  neither  their  strong  personal  views  to  make 
them  unjust  toward  those  who  differed  from  them, 
nor  their  toleration  to  modify  their  own  conscientious 
opinions;  and  their  position  is  one  that  their  descend- 
ants in  the  Brick  Church  regard  with  peculiar  pride 
and  gratitude. 

Finally,  it  must  be  mentioned  that  not  long  after 
the  event  just  described,  Dr.  Spring  began  to  publish 
the  books  which  soon  became  almost  as  influential  in 
a  larger  field  as  his  preaching  had  been  within  the 
limits  of  his  parish.* 

*  He  had  published,  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  ministry,  a  few  email 
books  and  many  pamphlets.  The  first  of  his  larger  works,  referred  to  in 
the  text,  was  "The  Obligation  of  the  World  to  the  Bible"  (1839).  Next 
"The  Attraction  of  the  Cross,"  was  issued  in  1846.  These  were  followed 
at  short  intervals  by  "The  Power  of  the  Pulpit"  (1848);  "The  Mercy 
Seat"  (1850);  "First  Things"  (1851);  "The  Glory  of  Christ"  (1852); 
and  "The  Contrast"  (1855).  Still  later  appeared  "Pulpit  Ministrations" 
(1864)  and  the  "Autobiography"  (1865).  His  completed  works  would 
fill  twenty-two  octavo  volximes. 


CHAPTER  XII 

RELIGION   AND   MORALS:     1810-1850 

"Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy  tabernacle?  who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill?  He 
that  walketh  uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness,  and  speaketh  the  truth  in  his 
heart." — Psalm  15  :  1  /. 

"  In  what  consists  [Christianity's)  true  glory,  unless  it  is  in  the  fact  that  where  It 
is  thus  ascendant  millions  of  intelligent  and  immortal  beings,  in  the  solitude  of  their 
retirement  and  in  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  in  the  depression  of  their  grief 
and  in  the  tranquillity  of  their  joy,  in  the  secrecy  and  publicity  of  their  devotions, 
in  the  rectitude,  truthfulness,  and  benignity  of  their  deportment  toward  God  and 
their  fellow-men,  manifest  his  glory,  who  is  '  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth'?" — Gardiner  Spring,  "The  Glory  of  Christ,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  39  ff. 

AS  the  last  chapter  was  devoted  to  the  pastor,  so 
this  one  is  devoted  to  the  people  of  the  Brick 
Church  during  this  period  of  forty  years: 
But  the  task  now  set  before  us  is  the  harder  of  the 
two.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  more  difficult  than  to 
ascertain  the  facts  regarding  the  inner  life  of  the  peo- 
ple of  former  times,  and  in  spite  of  a  careful  use  of 
records  and  biographies  and  reminiscences,  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  we  shall  but  attain  to  a  picture  of  ex- 
ternals after  all.  It  will  be  possible  to  state  with  some 
fulness  what  were  the  means  used  to  bring  the  duties 
of  religion  home  to  the  hearts  of  individuals  and  to 
control  or  correct  their  morals;  but  when  we  seek 
further  a  knowledge  of  the  actual  results,  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  regenerated  men  and  women  themselves 
and  of  the  thoroughness  of  their  regeneration,  we 
shall  be  able  to  do  little  more  than  catch  a  few  tantaliz- 

170 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  171 

ing  glimpses,  and  must  rely,  far  more  than  we  should 
wish,  upon  a  general  knowledge  of  the  church's 
strength,  and  a  study  (in  the  next  two  chapters)  of 
the  active  Christian  work  of  the  congregation,  in 
order  to  assure  us  that  the  means  employed  for  moral 
and  religious  training  were  successful. 

Most  obvious  among  such  means  were,  of  course, 
the  public  services  of  the  church.  These,  except  for 
the  necessary  reduction  of  the  number  of  Sunday 
services  from  three  to  two,  continued  as  in  the  time 
of  Dr.  Rodgers.  that  is,  morning  and  afternoon 
worship  on  Sunday,  a  prayer-meeting  on  Tuesday 
evening  and  on  Thursday  *  evening  a  lecture.  "The 
Old  White  Lecture  Room,"  in  which,  until  the  build- 
ing of  the  new  chapel  in  1832,  these  week-night 
meetings  were  held,  was  remembered  long  after  with 
an  affection  which  assures  us  of  the  deep  religious  im- 
pression made  by  these  gatherings.  "What  a  foun- 
tain of  sweet  memories  does  its  simple  name  unseal," 
exclaimed  Mr.  Horace  Holden  a  short  time  before 
his  death  in  1862,  "What  deep  and  pungent  convic- 
tions of  sin!  What  tears  of  contrition!  .  .  .  What 
songs  of  triumphant  rejoicing!  It  must  be  reserved 
for  eternity  to  recount  the  triumphs  of  grace  witnessed 
in  the  Old  Wliite  Lecture  Room."f 

The  story  of  how  Mr.  Holden  himself,  who  after- 
ward became  perhaps  the  leading  layman  of  the 
church,  was  first  introduced  to  this  room,  almost 
makes  us  feel  as  though  we,  too,  had  entered  it.  "In 
1814,"  he  says,  "Stephen  Dodge,  a  member  of  this 
church,  .  .  .  met  me  in  the  street  and  invited  me  to 

*  Changed  to  Friday  for  a  time,  beginning  in  March,  1825. 
t"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"pp.  145/. 


172  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

accompany  him  to  your*  Thursday  evening  lecture. 
I  had  never  attended  an  evening  religious  lecture.  I 
could  not  resist  his  polite  entreaty.  He  called  for 
me.  He  took  me  to  the  Old  White  Lecture  Room, 
and  seated  me  near  the  pulpit  among  the  elders.  The 
place  was  full.  It  was  a  new  scene  to  me.  I  well 
remember  the  very  spot  I  occupied  on  that  memorable 
evening;  and  well  do  I  remember  the  text,  'If  thou. 
Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniquities,  O  Lord,  who  shall 
stand?'  .  .  .  From  that  night  forward  I  became  a 
regular  attendant  upon  your  ministry.  That  lecture 
decided  my  whole  future."']' 

As  will  be  evident  from  this  passage  the  "lecture'* 
was  practically  a  sermon,  so  that  this  meeting  de- 
pended wholly  upon  the  pastor.  Not  so  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting.  This,  at  least  at  certain  periods, 
was  conducted  by  the  elders  in  rotation,  and  even  if 
Dr.  Spring  was  the  leader,  there  were,  he  tells  us,  in 
those  early  days,  no  less  than  sixty  men  whom  he 
could  call  upon  to  ojffer  prayer.  The  meetings,  under 
such  circumstances,  were,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
full  of  interest,  and  it  is  especially  worthy  of  note  that 
they  were  attended,  not  merely  by  the  members  of 
the  church,  but  by  many  who  were  as  yet  uncon- 
verted. In  1820  it  was  even  thought  necessary  to 
establish  an  extra  meeting  for  prayer  on  the  third 
Monday  evening  of  each  month,  in  order  that  the 
members  of  the  church,  meeting  by  themselves,  might 
have  the  special  benefit  of  more  private  and  intimate 
communion. 

Even  two  regular  services  between  Sundays  did  not 

*  This  is  quoted  from  a  speech  addressed  to  Dr.  Spring  personally. 
t"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  137. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  173 

always  exhaust  the  people's  zeal.  We  learn  that  in 
addition  "there  were  maintained  for  a  long  period 
twelve  neighborhood  prayer-meetings  at  private 
houses,  on  every  Friday  evening,  in  different  parts  of 
the  congregation,  sustained  by  committees  averaging 
seven  each,  which  were  so  distributed  as  every  week 
to  ensure  a  continual  rotation."*  It  was  certainly 
a  strong  church  that  could  thus  provide  nearly  a 
hundred  men  to  carry  on  such  a  work.  Other  meet- 
ings held  during  the  week,  throughout  the  whole  or  a 
part  of  this  period  were  the  quarterly  meeting,  a 
large  adult  Bible  class,  the  monthly  concert  of 
prayer  for  missions, -j*  a  class  for  instruction  in  the 
Shorter  Cathechism,  the  singing-school,  and  the 
inquiry  meeting.  J 

Only  two  of  these  demand  at  this  time  a  fuller 
comment.  The  nature  of  the  inquiry  meeting  may 
be  learned  from  the  following  description,  in  which 
Dr.  Spring  was  setting  forth,  under  the  form  of  a 
narrative,  his  conception  of  what  such  a  meeting  ought 
to  be  like.  No  doubt  the  methods  here  described 
were  employed  in  the  Brick  Church.  "  I  should  judge 
there  were  from  one  hundred  and  thirty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  persons  present — chiefly  of  those  who 
were  from  sixteen  to  thirty  years  of  age,  together 
with  a  few  of  more  advanced  years,  and  a  few  who 
were  children.  All  were  seated.  .  .  .  The  meeting 
was  opened  by  singing.  .  .  .  When  the  hymn  was 
closed,  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  briefly  stated, 

♦"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  145. 

t  Toward  the  end  of  the  period  covered  by  this  chapter  this  meeting 
was  changed  from  the  first  Monday  to  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month. 

X  This  was  probably  occasional  only,  and  may  have  been  held  on 
Sunday  evening. 


174  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  all  were  requested  to  kneel  and  unite  in  a  few 
words  of  prayer.  After  prayer  the  pastor  himself, 
together  with  three  other  gentlemen,  who  as  I  sup- 
posed were  oflScers  of  the  church,  dispersed  themselves 
throughout  different  parts  of  the  room,  and  entered 
into  conversation  with  the  individuals  who  were 
present.  Here  and  there  were  clusters  of  persons 
with  whom  they  conversed  collectively.  The  con- 
versation with  individuals  was  sometimes  continued 
two  or  three  minutes,  and  sometimes  elicited  no 
answer.  Sometimes  it  consisted  of  a  single  enquiry 
and  an  appended  observation  or  two.  And  some- 
times it  continued  for  eight  or  ten  minutes.  So  that 
at  the  close  of  the  meeting  there  were  none  who  had 
not  had  the  opportunity  of  a  personal  interview.  .  .  . 
The  conversation  was  conducted  in  rather  a  low  tone 
of  voice,  and  much  as  it  would  have  been,  had  the 
parties  been  alone  in  a  private  parlor."* 

The  quarterly  meeting,  included  in  the  list  given 
above,  was  held  during  the  week  preceding  each 
communion  service,  on  Wednesday  evening.f  It  was 
evidently  what  is  now  known  as  the  preparatory 
service,  and  is  described  at  one  place  in  the  records 
as  '*the  quarterly  meeting  of  the  church  with  their 
children."  It  would  appear  that  until  1816,  new 
members  were  received  into  the  church  at  this  or 
some  other  weekday  meeting,  but  in  March  of  that 
year  it  was  decided  that  this  ceremony  should  take 
place  "in  the  sanctuary  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
congregation."  The  "Profession  and  Covenant'* 
used  in  the  admission  of  new  members  is  still  in 

♦  "Fragments  from  the  Study  of  a  Pastor"  (1838),  pp.  57-60. 

t  So  in  1838.    The  day  of  the  week  may  have  varied  from  time  to  time. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  175 

existence,*  a  very  solemn  and  searching  document. 
It  required  a  somewhat  extended  declaration  of 
faith  in  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  a  confession  of  sin  which  included  the  following 
items:  "the  original  and  total  depravity  of  your 
nature,  the  past  enmity  of  your  heart  against  God, 
the  unbelief  which  has  led  you  to  reject  a  Saviour, 
and  the  manifold  transgressions  of  your  lives.'* 

For  a  few  months  in  1845,  "in  view  of  the  difficul- 
ties experienced  in  relation  to  the  public  profession 
and  covenant,"  its  use  was  discontinued,  and  it  was 
ordered  that  "no  other  engagements  be  required  of 
those  received  into  the  church  save  those  entered 
into  at  the  baptism  of  adults,  as  required  by  the 
Directory  for  Worship  and  those  implied  in  actually 
coming  to  the  Lord's  Table."  This  change  was  soon 
reconsidered,  however,  and  the  church  returned  to  its 
earlier  practice. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  candidates  for  admission 
to  church  membership  underwent  a  careful  examina- 
tion. It  was  necessary  for  all  such  persons  to  appear 
before  the  whole  session  and  reply  to  such  questions 
as  were  there  propounded  to  them.  In  1844,  how- 
ever, an  exception  was  made  in  the  case  of  those  who 
in  the  opinion  of  the  pastor  might  be  "deterred  by 
diffidence  or  natural  modesty"  from  submitting  to 
this  formidable  examination.  In  their  case,  the 
pastor,  alone  or  with  the  assistance  of  one  or  more 
elders,  was  permitted  to  conduct  a  more  private 
inquiry  into  the  candidate's  "knowledge  and  faith."  f 

Turning  now  to  the  Sunday  services,  we  must  re- 

*  See  Appendix  T,  p.  539. 

t  In  1859  the  examination  of  all  by  the  session  itself  was  again  ordered. 


176  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

mark  first  of  all  that  in  those  days  there  was,  of  course, 
no  recognition  of  any  of  the  festivals  of  the  church 
year,  so  that  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,* 
observed  four  times  annually  f  in  the  simple  and 
reverent  manner  of  the  non-liturgical  churches,  J  was 
the  only  service  that  had  a  peculiar  character  of  its 
own.  To  this  one  service,  however,  which  he  re- 
garded as  the  culmination  of  Christian  worship.  Dr. 
Spring  gave  a  very  marked  emphasis.  It  was 
observable,  we  are  told,  that  "he  brought  to  it  always, 
so  far  as  he  could,  the  most  careful  preparation  on  his 
own  part  and  that  of  his  people.  .  .  .  He  gave  it  the 
highest  prominence  in  his  ministry,  as  the  comfort  of 
disciples,  and  the  preacher  of  Christ  to  the  world. 
At  the  communion  table  some  of  his  most  moving 
spiritual  addresses  were  made."§ 

The  character  of  a  service  upon  an  ordinary 
Sunday  may  readily  be  conceived  by  recollecting  what 
has  already  been  told  regarding  Dr.  Spring's  preach- 
ing, and  from  the  following  suggestive  account  of  his 

*  In  regard  to  the  administration  at  this  time  of  the  other  Bacrament, 
that  of  Baptism,  we  know  only  that  a  silver  bowl  was  provided  for  that 
purpose  (see  above,  p.  81),  and  that  the  service  was  almost  invariably  held 
in  the  church.  Only  for  very  strong  reason,  such  as  sickness,  was  it  allow- 
able to  hold  it  elsewhere,  and  then  at  least  one  of  the  elders  was  present 
with  the  pastor. 

t  Both  the  month  and  the  Sunday  in  the  month  assigned  for  this  service 
were  changed  from  time  to  time.  As  an  illustration  may  be  given  the  dates 
assigned  in  1827,  viz.:  the  second  Sundays  of  January,  April,  July  and 
October. 

X  In  regard  to  the  silver  communion  service  we  have  this  note  under 
the  date,  January  5th,  1819.  "The  committee  (of  the  trustees)  also  reported 
that  they  had  procured  two  pitchers,  six  flagons,  two  dishes,  and  one  plate, 
making  with  the  pieces  previously  belonging  to  the  church  a  complete 
service."  Four  silver  plates  had  been  presented  by  a  member  of  the 
congregation  in  1813. 

§  "Memorial  Discourse,"  p.  25. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  177 

manner  of  conducting  public  worship.  "His  prayers 
were  wonderful,"  we  are  told  by  his  successor,  "rich 
in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit  of  Holy  Scripture,  varied, 
most  felicitous  in  all  personal  allusions,  deep  in  the 
devotion  of  a  Christian  heart,  comprehensive  in  their 
range,  .  .  .  even  more  remarkable  than  his  sermons 
for  marked  impressiveness.  .  .  .  His  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  his  reading  of  hymns,  were  always  accord- 
ing to  the  maxim  so  often  used  by  Dr.  John  Mason, 
that  'correct  emphasis  is  sound  exposition.'  One  of 
the  leading  merchants  of  the  city,  whose  name  is  the 
synonym  for  Christian  benevolence,  has  told  me  that 
he  never  was  able  to  shake  off  the  religious  impression 
made  on  him  by  Dr.  Spring's  manner  of  reading  the 
hymn  of  Doddridge,  *  Ye  hearts  with  youthful  vigor 
warm.     * 

Not  upon  the  minister  alone,  however,  did  the 
character  of  the  service  depend. f  The  music  during 
this  period  attained  a  considerable  importance,  and 
claimed  a  greater  degree  of  attention  than  we  should 
probably  have  supposed.     When  Mr.  Spring  came 

♦  "Memorial  Discourse,"  pp.  24  /. 

t  As  to  the  customary  or  prescribed  action  of  the  congregation  at  the 
public  services  we  know  little.  The  following  minute  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  1849  in  regard  to  "Posture  in  Prayer"  will,  perhaps,  be  sur- 
prising to  some  readers:  "While  the  posture  of  standing  in  public  prayer, 
and  that  of  kneeling  in  private  prayer,  are  indicated  by  examples  in 
Scripture  and  in  the  general  practice  of  the  ancient  Christian  Church,  the 
posture  of  sitting  in  public  prayer  is  nowhere  mentioned,  and  by  no  usage 
allowed;  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  universally  regarded  by  the  early 
Church  as  heathenish  or  irreverent;  and  is  still,  even  in  the  customs  of 
modem  and  Western  nations,  an  attitude  obviously  wanting  in  the  due 
expression  of  reverence.  Therefore  the  General  Assembly  resolve,  that 
the  practice  in  question  be  considered  grievously  improper,  whenever  the 
infirmities  of  the  worshipper  do  not  render  it  necessary;  and  that  minis- 
ters be  required  to  reprove  it  with  earnest  and  persevering  admonition." 
"Assembly  Digest,"  p.  205. 


178  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

to  the  church  the  musical  equipment  consisted  chiefly 
of  the  clerk,  or  chorister,  as  he  was  then  beginning  to 
be  more  frequently  called.  At  first  this  official  con- 
ducted the  church's  music  by  simply  beating  time 
and  leading  in  the  singing;  but  gradually  his  duties 
were,  as  we  shall  see,  changed  and  enlarged.  The 
gradual  advance  in  his  salary  is  an  indication  of  this. 
The  $100  paid  in  1811  was  soon  increased  to  $150  or 
$200,  with  occasional  relapses  to  the  original  figure. 
One  especially  valuable  man,  Marcus  Alden,  was 
allowed  to  augment  his  salary  by  a  collection  in  the 
church.  Later,  in  the  thirties,  the  figure  rose  to  $500, 
which  was  the  highest  reached  up  to  1850. 

Seventeen  different  names  appear  on  the  list  of 
choristers  in  the  forty  years,  many  of  them  for  very 
short  terms.  Evidently  it  was  a  difficult  position  to 
fill.  In  1813,  for  instance,  Mr.  Roberts,  "a  teacher 
of  psalmody  from  Connecticut,"  is  ushered  in  with  a 
decided  flourish,  but  even  before  the  year  is  out  Mr. 
William  R.  Thompson  has  succeeded  him.  Some- 
times the  difficulty  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  a 
man  who  could  not  properly  lead  the  singing  was, 
nevertheless,  a  faithful  worker  and  an  excellent 
Christian.  There  was  one  instance  of  this  sort  so 
striking  that  it  deserves  to  be  recorded  for  its  illustra- 
tion of  victory  in  defeat.  Mr.  S.  P.  Pond,  who  had 
served  for  several  years,  was  told  with  regret,  in  1841, 
that  his  work  was  not  giving  satisfaction.  The  com- 
mittee of  the  session,  who  presented  the  matter  to  him, 
reported,  "that  Mr.  Pond  treated  the  whole  subject 
in  a  kind  and  Christian  spirit,  himself  cheerfully  re- 
signed his  place,  and  suggested  Mr.  Comes  as  his  suc- 
cessor."    Also  "that  Mr.  Pond  is  willing  to  continue 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  179 

his  services  in  assisting  Mr.  Comes  until  the  first  day  of 
February  next."  We  are  glad  to  hear  that  a  hearty 
and  appreciative  resolution  was  passed  and  sent  to 
this  excellent  man,  and  also  that  it  was  accompanied 
by  a  still  more  substantial  recognition  of  his  services. 
Mr.  Spring  had  barely  been  installed  when  Mr. 
Holbrook,  the  chorister  of  that  day,  obtained  per- 
mission to  teach  sacred  music  in  the  session  room  on 
two  nights  in  the  week.  Remembering  what  an  im- 
portant part  the  singing-school  in  New  Haven  had 
played  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Spring  himself,  one  fancies 
that  his  favorable  opinion  in  regard  to  such  institu- 
tions was  not  difficult  to  obtain.  This  new  step — 
new,  that  is,  for  the  Brick  Church — is  the  first  indica- 
tion of  any  decided  movement  toward  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  congregational  singing  in  the  church 
services.  In  1815  Wednesday  and  Friday  evenings 
were  devoted  to  this  enterprise.  At  first  there  was 
apparently  no  attempt  to  train  any  special  group  of 
people,  general  improvement  in  singing  appearing 
to  be  the  object  in  view;  but  in  December,  1819,  the 
session  records  the  receipt  of  a  communication  from 
"the  singers  of  the  congregation"  in  regard  to  their 
instruction  in  vocal  music.  From  this  we  may  con- 
clude that  the  process  of  specialization  had  begun. 
Three  years  later  they  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  form 
a  society  which  went  under  the  formidable  title  of 
*'The  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Sacred  Music 
in  the  Brick  Church."  What  constituted  this  "  sacred 
music  "  we  do  not  knov/.  At  the  church  services  most 
probably  nothing  but  psalms  in  the  metrical  version 
and  a  certain  number  of  hymns  were  permitted.  Possi- 
bly a  little  more  freedom  was  permitted  at  the  "con- 


180  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

certs,"  which  from  1819  were  given  in  the  church  about 
once  a  year,  partly  as  a  benefit  for  the  chorister  and 
partly  for  some  benevolent  purpose  or  the  church  funds. 
Some  idea  of  the  hymns  admired  and  sanctioned  in 
the  church  at  this  time  may  be  gained  from  a  little 
vx)lume  published  in  1823  "by  request  of  the  mem- 
bers" and  entitled  "The  Brick  Church  Hymns,  De- 
signed for  the  Use  of  Social  Prayer  Meetings  and 
Families,  Selected  from  the  Most  Approved  Authors, 
and  Recommended  by  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  Pas- 
tor of  Said  Church."  Of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
odd  hymns  in  this  volume  only  about  one-fifth  con- 
tinue in  use,  and  only  one  or  two  of  these  are  among 
the  really  good  hymns  in  our  modern  books;  while 
some  of  the  sentiments  which  were  in  1823  com- 
mended to  the  use  of  Brick  Church  people  will  some- 
what astonish  modern  readers.     For  instance, 

"Alas!   this  adamantine  heart, 
This  icy  rock  within! 
Alas!   these  active  powers  congealed 
By  the  deceits  of  sin." 

It  is  no  wonder  that  another  hymn  exclaims: 

*My  heart,  how  dreadful  hard  it  is!" 

Many  of  the  selections  dwell  with  painful  persistence 
upon  the  lessons  of  mortality,  such  as  that  which 
begins, 

"Death!     'Tis  a  melancholy  day," 
or  that  more  famous  one, 

"Hark!   from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound'. 

Mine  ears,  attend  the  cry — 
'Ye  living  men,  come  view  the  ground. 
Where  you  must  shortly  lie.'  " 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  181 

Even  in  singing  the  glad  tidings,  the  joy  was  not  per- 
mitted to  be  unmixed;  witness  the  uncompromising 
terms  of  the  following: 

"Go  preach  my  gospel,  saith  the  Lord, 
Bid  the  whole  earth  my  grace  receive. 
He  shall  be  saved  that  trusts  my  word; 
He  shall  be  damned  that  won't  believe."  * 

It  should  be  understood  that  the  hymn  books  of 
those  days  contained  the  words  only.  The  music 
was  in  a  separate  volume,  and  the  bills  for  "music 
books"  became,  as  time  went  on,  a  considerable  item 
in  the  accounts  of  the  treasurer.  The  fitting  of  tune 
to  psalm  (or  hymn)  was  at  first  the  work  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  session,  consisting  of  the  pastor  and  two 
elders,  but  afterward  was  evidently  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  chorister. 

*  Watts's  Hymns,  with  additions  by  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  had  been 
"cheerfully  allowed"  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1802.    Four  years  later 
they  declared  that  other  psalms  and  hymns  than  those  expressly  allowed 
might  be  used,  but  that  sessions  and  presbyteries  must  keep  strict  watch 
to  exclude   "hymns   containing   erroneous   doctrine   or   trivial   matter." 
Down  to  1820  the  following  books  had  been  authorized:  "  Rouse's  Psalms," 
"Watts's  Psalms"  and  his  three  volumes  of  hymns,  and  Barlow's  and 
Dwight's  revisions  of  Watts.    In  that  year  the  Assembly  decided  to  have 
a  bo'ok  of  its  own  prepared,  which  should  include  "a  compilation  of  the 
metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms"  and  "a  copious  collection  of  hymns  and 
spiritual  songs  from  various  authors,  giving  the  preference  to  those  now 
authorized,  so  far  as  good  taste,  sound  sense,  and  enlightened  piety  admit." 
This  book  was  issued  in  1830.    A  revised  edition  appeared  in  1843.    At 
the  very  end  of  the  period  under  discussion,  namely  in  1848,  the  Assem- 
bly appointed  a  committee  on  church  music  with  special  reference  to  the 
preparation  of  a  book  of  tunes.    One  paragraph  in  the  Assembly  minutes 
is  especially  interesting:  "  It  is  proposed  to  add  an  appropriate  selection  of 
set  pieces  for  special  occasions,  such  as  anthems  and  chants,  both  metrical 
and  prose,  adapted  to  our  psalmody,  and  also  to  portions  of  the  common 
prose  version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  and  other  inspired  lyrics  from  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments."    This  tune  book,  or  "psalmodist  "  was  completed 
in  1850.    See  "Assembly  Digest,"  pp.  195  /. 


182  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

The  musical  society  above  referred  to  did  not  last 
long,  unhappily.  Ten  months  after  its  first  mention 
in  the  records  it  is  referred  to  as  "the  late  association." 
But  meantime  it  had  made  one  hopeful  suggestion. 
It  had  proposed  that  the  singers  in  the  congregation 
have  assigned  to  them  certain  special  pews  in  the 
gallery  of  the  church.  The  trustees  gave  their  ap- 
proval and  bought  certain  pews  for  this  purpose, 
making  them  free  of  rent  for  the  singers'  use.  Then 
for  the  first  time  a  choir  might  be  said  to  have  been 
assembled.  This  was  in  1822.  Shortly  after  this 
either  the  funds  were  low  or  applications  for  places  in 
the  choir  became  suspiciously  numerous,  for  w^e  learn 
that  the  singers,  though  continuing  to  occupy  their 
special  seats,  were  required  to  pay  a  pew-tax;  but 
finally  the  more  generous  policy  was  resumed.  Pews 
No.  86,  85  and  38  "in  the  front  gallery"  facing  the 
pulpit,  were  set  aside  for  the  choir,  and  permission 
was  even  given  to  make  such  changes  in  them  as' 
would  adapt  them  more  perfectly  to  their  purpose. 

In  1825  musical  matters  were  not  considered  to  be 
in  a  satisfactory  state.  The  trustees  took  measures 
"to  make,  if  possible,  some  improvement  in  the  sing- 
ing department  of  this  congregation."  Possibly  as  a 
result  of  their  activity,  a  second  musical  society  was 
formed  in  the  next  year,  called  the  "Asaph  Associa- 
tion," and  a  couple  of  years  later  we  become  aware 
of  another  innovation.  The  board  of  trustees  at  that 
time  resolves  "that  Mr.  Rolla  and  his  daughters  be 
engaged  to  fill  the  choir  for  one  year."  Besides  the 
somewhat  amusing  form  of  this  statement,  the  fact 
stated  is  worth  noting,  for  it  indicates  that  in  1828, 
other  paid  singers  besides  the  chorister  began  to  be 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  183 

employed.  Mr.  Cole,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Rolla,  was 
assisted  in  like  manner  by  a  Miss  Gould,  and  the  con- 
siderable sums  of  money  which  soon  after  this  were 
voted  from  time  to  time  for  "improvement  of  the 
choir"  suggest  that  other  singers  not  mentioned  by 
name  may  have  been  employed. 

In  regard  to  the  question  of  instrumental  music 
our  information  is  meagre.  No  mention  of  any  such 
accompaniment  to  the  singing  appears  in  the  records 
of  this  period  until  1844,  when  we  learn  that  Mr. 
Samuel  Johnson  was  paid  $25  a  quarter  to  play  the 
violoncello ;  and  from  that  time  on  this  appropriation 
continued  to  be  made  at  regular  intervals.  But  how 
are  we  to  interpret  the  entire  silence  of  the  records  in 
regard  to  instrumental  music  during  the  first  thirty- 
four  years  of  Dr.  Spring's  pastorate  ?  *  Possibly  the 
"orchestra"  of  which  we  heard  in  the  days  following 
the  Revolution,  had  been  discontinued,  a  stricter 
standard  having  been  introduced,  forgetful  of  the 
biblical  warrant  for  the  use  in  worship  of  trumpets, 
psalteries,  and  harps,  stringed  instruments,  organs, 
and  high-sounding  cymbals.  Or  it  may  be  that  dur- 
ing the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
players  upon  instruments  had  rendered  their  service 
without  remuneration,  so  that  the  records  of  the 
trustees  had  no  need  to  refer  to  them.  The  most  that 
can  be  said  with  certainty  is  that  the  violoncello  was 
a  regular  feature  of  the  Brick  Church  music,  from 
1844  and  until  its  place  was  taken  by  a  more  modern 
instrument.! 

*  Except  that  a  small  organ,  evidently  for  use  in  rehearsals,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  lecture  room  at  the  desire  of  the  "Asaph  Association." 

t  The  General  Assembly  in  1845,  in  reply  to  an  overture  from  the 
Synod  of  Cincinnati  on  the  subject  of  instrimaental  music,  adopted  the  fol- 


184  THE  BRICK   CHURCH 

Without  underestimating  in  the  shghtest  degree  the 
power  of  Dr.  Spring's  impressive  eloquence  to  build 
up  and  maintain  a  faithful  congregation,  we  need  not 
doubt  that  the  improved  music  and  especially  the 
opportunity  to  have  a  hand  (or  even  a  voice)  in  that 
improvement  was  a  decided  help.  There  were,  how- 
ever, times  when,  it  is  plain,  any  such  aid  was  ab- 
solutely unnecessary,  times  when  services  grew  and 
multiplied  as  though  of  their  own  accord,  and  when 
the  distinctly  religious  interest  was  so  great  that  the 
problem  was  to  control  and  apply  rather  than  to 
create  it. 

From  the  year  1792,  and  still  more  strikingly  after 
1800,  the  American  churches  had  experienced  a 
remarkable  series  of  religious  awakenings.  Hardly 
a  month  passed  but  some  village,  some  city,  or  some 
college  reported  a  "revival."  Mr.  Spring  himself, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  been  greatly  influenced  by 
sharing  in  such  an  experience  at  Yale,  and  it  w^s 
manifestly  his  great  desire,  as  soon  as  he  was  settled 
in  New  York,  that  his  own  church  should  be  visited 
by  the  revival  spirit.  His  preaching,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  carefully  calculated  to  promote  this  end,  and  in- 
deed during  his  first  three  or  four  years  there  were 
several  "seasons  of  deep  reflection  and  fervent 
prayer,"  which,  though  of  short  duration,  had  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  many  individuals. 

lowing  minute;  "Whereas,  By  our  constitution  the  whole  internal  arrange- 
ment of  a  church,  as  to  worship  and  order,  is  committed  to  the  minister 
and  session;  therefore.  Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  do  not  feel  themselves 
called  and  obliged  to  take  any  further  order  on  this  subject,  but  leave 
to  each  session  the  delicate  and  important  matter  of  arranging  and  con- 
ducting the  music  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  for  edification,  recommend- 
ing great  caution,  prudence  and  forbearance  in  regard  to  it."  "Assembly 
Digest,"  p.  197. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  185 

During  the  summer  of  1815,*  there  began  a  much 
more  important  and  enduring  movement.  Pastor 
and  people  were  moved  alike  by  what  seemed  to  be  a 
new  earnestness.  Days  of  fasting  and  prayer  were 
occasionally  observed,  and  what  was  still  more  note- 
worthy, the  younger  men  of  the  church  organized 
a  special  weekly  meeting  for  prayer  which  met  at 
private  houses  on  Saturday  evenings.  *'Our  Sab- 
baths," says  Dr.  Spring,  "became  deeply  solemn  and 
affecting.  We  watched  for  them  like  those  who 
watch  for  the  morning." f  "What  days  of  heaven 
upon  earth!"  exclaimed  old  Mr.  Horace  Holden,  re- 
calling the  services  of  this  same  period.  "No  tongue 
can  describe  them.  .  .  .  Every  pew  filled,  the  gal- 
leries crowded  in  every  part  with  anxious  and  devout 
worshippers.  .  .  .  What  a  beautiful  and  sublime 
spectacle  to  behold  the  vast  assembly  retiring  after 
each  service  in  profound  silence,  to  meditate  and 
pray.     Amid  these  scenes  of  mercy  it  is  delightful  to 

*  Dr.  Spring  in  his  autobiography  says  "the  summer  of  1814,"  and 
states  that  the  New  Year's  sermon  (to  be  described  presently)  was 
preached  on  the  last  day  of  the  same  year.  But  December  31st,  1814,  was  a 
Saturday,  so  that  the  next  day  was  both  Sunday  and  New  Year  and  the 
New  Year's  sermon  would  certainly  have  been  preached  on  that  day. 
Moreover,  the  sermon  refers  in  the  following  terms  to  the  peace  which 
closed  the  War  of  1812:  "In  the  recent  desolations  of  our  land,  we  were 
not  exempt  from  our  portion  of  calamity.  But  the  silver  clarion  of  peace 
has  again  vibrated  on  our  ears,  and  the  rich  blessings  of  peace  have  been 
again  restored  in  unexampled  profusion.  Worldly  prosperity  has  been 
flowing  in  upon  us  in  deep,  wide  channels,  and  all  classes  of  men  have  been 
growing  rich."  Now  the  peace  of  Ghent  was  signed  on  December  24th, 
1814,  and  the  news  of  it  djd  not  reach  New  York  till  February,  1815. 
Moreover,  it  is  evident  from  the  above  quotation  itself  that  months  rather 
than  days  had  already  passed  since  the  peace  was  declared.  Dr.  Spring, 
we  must  therefore  conclude,  had  made  a  mistake  of  a  year.  The  sermon 
was  preached  on  Sunday,  December  31st,  1815,  and  the  summer  of  revival 
referred  to  was  the  summer  of  that  year,  instead  of  the  year  previous. 

t"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  22. 


186  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

know  that  almost  every  member  of  the  church  was 
actively  employed."* 

On  the  last  day  of  1815,  Mr.  Spring  put  his  whole 
soul  into  a  New  Year's  sermon,  to  which  later  was 
given  the  appropriate  title  "Something  Must  Be 
Done."t  The  pastor,  as  we  learn  from  this  impor- 
tant discourse,  was  by  no  means  content  with  the 
evidences  of  revival  already  existing  among  his 
people.  He  felt  that  as  yet  there  had  been  no 
"general  out-pouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  his 
aim  was  to  secure  for  them,  if  possible,  this  supreme 
blessing.  In  spite  of  the  interest  already  manifested, 
he  felt  that  the  love  of  riches  and  the  comforts  of  a 
time  of  prosperity  and  peace, f  were  blinding  the  eyes 
of  many,  even  of  many  Christians,  to  the  higher  inter- 
ests of  religion.  In  view  of  all  this,  he  declares  that 
"something  must  be  done."  He  calls  upon  his  peo- 
ple to  repent  as  a  church,  sincerely  to  desire  a  revival, 
to  pray  for  it,  to  work  for  it,  and  not  least,  to  expect  it. 
If  they  so  act,  they  will  not,  in  his  judgment,  be  disap- 
pointed. But  if  they  neglect  their  duty  in  this  matter, 
he  cannot  but  warn  them  of  their  responsibility  for 
those  who,  for  the  want  of  this  revival,  will  be  over- 
taken in  their  sins.  This  most  solemn  and  fervent 
address  seems  to  have  been,  under  God,  the  means 
of  achieving  the  end  to  which  it  so  ardently  looked. 
The  effect,  indeed,  was  almost  instantaneous.  The 
next  Sunday,  the  first  of  the  New  Year,  was  marked 
by  services  especially  solemn,  and  from  that  time, 
continuing  through  the  winter  and  even  longer,  men 

*  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  145. 

t  It  was  published  and  ran  through  four  editions. 

%  The  War  of  1812  had  recently  been  concluded.  See  note  on  preceding 
page. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  187 

and  women  were  continually  seeking  admission  to 
the  discipleship  of  Christ  in  a  spirit  which  had  not 
been  known  before. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  cruder  methods  of 
evangelistic  appeal,  which  were  perhaps  more  preva- 
lent at  that  time  than  at  the  present  day,  were  ever 
adopted  in  the  Brick  Church.  Dr.  Spring  had  a  very 
positive  repugnance  for  "getting  up"  *  a  revival.  He 
says  expressly  of  the  revivals  in  his  church,  that  in 
them  "there  were  no  'new  measures,'  no  *  anxious 
seats,'  and  no  public  announcement  of  the  names  or 
the  number  of  those  who  were  striving  to  enter  into 
the  strait  gate."  The  means  used  were  simple. 
First  "there  was  prayer,"  and  upon  this  he  lays  chief 
emphasis.  Then  "there  was  solemn  and  earnest 
preaching,"  and  "there  were  private  circles  for  re- 
ligious conversation,  and  prayer,  and  praise,  and  these 
scarcely  known  beyond  the  individuals  who  composed 
them."  He  mentions  particularly  a  day  of  fasting, 
humiliation,  and  prayer,  which  he  shared  with  some 
thirty  others  of  the  church  one  Thursday  of  January, 
1816.  They  met  at  a  private  house  in  Church  Street, 
just  in  the  rear  of  St.  Paul's,  "  and  such  a  day,"  he  says, 
"I  never  saw  before,  and  have  never  seen  since. "f 

It  is  not  possible  to  follow  further  the  details  of  this 
memorable  epoch  in  the  church's  life,  or  to  describe 
other  similar  experiences  in  the  course  of  the  next 
twenty  years;  J  nor  would  it  be  accordant  with  the 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  219. 

t  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  166. 

J  Dr.  Murray  says:  "That  remarkable  series  of  revivals  seems  to  have 
ended  in  1834.  Then  came  the  work  of  training  in  Christian  knowledge 
those  who  had  been  converted  to  Christ  by  this  ministry."  "Memorial 
Discourse,"  p.  18. 


188  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

spirit  by  which  the  church  was  then  controlled  to 
record  even  now  the  number  of  converts  or  to  give 
the  names  of  those,  afterward  pillars  of  the  church, 
who  were  thus  claimed  for  the  Master's  service;  but 
there  is  hardly  need  of  further  statement  to  prove  that 
the  Brick  Church  in  the  years  which  we  are  here 
studying,  was  a  place  where  deep  and  genuine  religion 
was  effectively  urged  and  earnestly  accepted. 

Besides  its  services  and  meetings  the  church  em- 
ployed two  other  means  of  caring  for  the  religious 
and  moral  needs  of  the  people,  namely,  visitation  and 
discipline.  To  the  work  of  the  pastor  in  carrying  his 
message  and  influence  into  the  homes  of  the  people 
emphatic  witness  is  given  by  one  of  his  parishioners. 
He  speaks,  it  will  be  noticed,  with  discrimination. 
Dr.  Spring,  he  tells  us,  did  not  make  frequent  calls 
upon  his  people  as  a  matter  of  routine,  and  it  was 
well  understood  that  he  regarded  his  preaching,  to- 
gether with  the  necessary  preparation  for  it,  as  the 
most  important  part  of  his  ministry.  All  the  more 
impressive,  therefore,  is  this  testimony  of  the  parish- 
ioner to  the  faithful  pastor.  The  people  of  the  Brick 
Church,  he  says,  had  been  taught  by  their  experience 
under  Dr.  Spring  to  esteem  pastoral  visitation  a 
valuable  means  of  grace.  Especially  in  the  memor- 
able seasons  of  unusual  interest  had  their  pastor  made 
use  of  this  method  "going  from  family  to  family  to 
guide  enquiring  souls,  cheer  the  faint,  comfort  the 
feeble-minded.  .  .  .  Not  one  weary  heavy-laden  sin- 
ner was  overlooked.  ...  I  do  not  recollect,"  con- 
cludes this  witness,  who  knew  the  church  as  few  did, 
"I  do  not  recollect  to  have  heard  of  an  instance  in 
which  a  pastoral  visit  was  neglected,  if  there  was  any 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  189 

real  call  for  it,  or  the  least  prospect  of  doing  any 
good."  * 

The  sharing  of  this  work  of  visitation  in  those  days 
by  the  members  of  the  session  is  a  matter  that  needs 
to  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  modern  Presbyterians, 
who  would  probably  be  astonished  to  receive  from  the 
elders  of  their  church  such  calls  as  were  customary 
in  the  early  nineteenth  century.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller, 
in  a  sermon  on  Ruling  Elders,  delivered  in  1809,  thus 
describes  this  particular  function  of  the  elders'  oflSce. 
**It  is  their  duty  to  converse  with  and  admonish  in 
private  those  who  appear  to  be  growing  careless,  or 
falling  into  habits  in  any  respect  criminal,  suspicious, 
or  unpromising.  It  is  their  duty  to  visit  and  pray 
with  the  sick,  as  far  as  their  circumstances  admit,  and 
to  request  the  attendance  of  the  pastor  on  the  sick 
and  dying,  as  may  be  judged  desirable.  It  is  their 
duty  to  visit  the  members  of  the  church  and  their 
families ;  to  converse  with  them ;  to  instruct  the  igno- 
rant; to  confirm  the  wavering;  to  caution  the  un- 
wary; to  encourage  the  timid;  and  to  excite  and  ani- 
mate all  classes  to  a  faithful  and  exemplary  discharge 
of  duty."  f 

That  the  elders  of  the  Brick  Church  did  not  always 
live  up  to  the  height  of  this  ideal,  we  may  believe 
without  seriously  accusing  them  of  lukewarmness  in 
their  service,  but  that  they  themselves  held  the  ideal 
before  their  eyes  is  made  evident  on  more  than  one 
page  of  their  records.  Mention  may  be  made  of  one 
instance  where  they  undertook  "to  digest  a  system  of 
measures  with  the  view  to  extending  their  oflScial  visita- 


*  Horace  Holden  in  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  141. 
t  "The  Divine  Appointment,"  etc.,  pp.  31  /. 


190  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

tions  to  the  members  of  this  congregation."  And  there 
is  another  minute  which  still  more  clearly  indicates 
the  seriousness  with  which  they  regarded  their  own 
participation  in  this  ministry.  In  October,  1820,  after 
a  meeting  "devoted  to  prayer  and  friendly  conversa- 
tion on  the  present  languishing  state  of  this  church," 
they  appoint  a  committee  to  suggest,  not  merely  what 
may  be  done  in  general,  but  what  they  themselves 
can  personally  do,  to  better  the  situation,  and,  of  the 
four  measures  afterward  adopted,  one  proposed  to 
consider  it  "the  duty  of  each  individual  of  the  session 
to  converse  with  a  given  number  of  the  congregation 
at  least  once  a  week,  on  the  importance  of  personal 
piety,  and  that  reports  of  such  interviews  be  made  to 
the  session  at  each  monthly  meeting,"  while  another 
provided  "that  in  his  pastoral  visits  the  minister  be 
associated  with  one  of  the  elders,  and  that  each  elder 
perform  this  service  in  rotation." 

In  the  administration  of  discipline  for  errors  and 
offences,  the  final  means  of  supervising  and  controlling 
the  private  life  of  the  members,  the  elders  played  a 
still  more  prominent  part,  for  this  work  was  always 
carried  on  by  the  session  as  a  whole,  in  which  the 
pastor  had  only  such  superior  authority  as  belonged 
to  his  position  as  moderator.  The  amount  of  time 
devoted  to  this  work,  the  patience  and  system  with 
which  it  was  executed,  and  the  conscientious  adminis- 
tration of  justice  which  it  exhibits  make  this  element 
of  the  church  life  an  impressive  one.  That  the  record 
of  it  is  not  pleasant,  need  not  be  said.  It  is  not  agree- 
able to  read  here  the  record  of  old  sins  and  follies  and 
insincerities,  to  learn  that  in  those  days  there  were 
some  black  sheep  in  the  fold.     But,  after  all,  we  know 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  191 

well  enough  that  the  mere  profession  of  Christianity 
does  not  at  any  time  ensure  a  pure  heart  and  an 
honest  life,  so  that  this  record  of  discipline  in  the 
Brick  Church  of  the  early  nineteenth  century  merely 
illustrates  by  concrete  instances  a  well-known  fact; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  courageous  facing  of  the 
practical  problem  thus  made  manifest,  the  reclaiming 
of  some,  and  the  protection  of  the  church  from  the 
accusation  of  indifference  to  the  sins  of  its  own  mem- 
bers— all  this  serves  to  give  the  subject  an  honorable 
place  in  the  church's  history. 

It  will  be  instructive  to  present  an  abstract  of  the 
procedure  in  one  specific  case,  as  an  illustration  of  the 
general  method.  Information  having  been  received 
that  Mr.  C,  a  member  of  the  church,  is  addicted  to  the 
habit  of  intemperance,  a  committee  is  appointed  to 
expostulate  with  him.  He  acknowledges  his  offence, 
gives  "some  evidence  of  penitence"  and  promises  to 
reform.  The  session  then  "consider  it  their  duty  to 
forbear  with  Mr.  C.  for  a  short  period,  .  .  .  while 
at  the  same  time  they  view  themselves  under  obliga- 
tion to  watch  over  their  offending  brother  with  re- 
doubled diligence."  Four  months  later  they  perceive 
that  he  has  not  mended  his  ways  and  that  a  trial  can- 
not be  avoided.  A  committee  is  accordingly  ap- 
pointed to  obtain  the  necessary  evidence.  This,  un- 
happily, is  an  easy  matter,  and  furthermore  there  now 
appears  to  be  ground  for  adding  profanity  to  the  orig- 
inal accusation.  Finally,  the  day  of  trial  is  set,  and 
Mr.  C.  is  cited  to  appear.  The  trial  is  duly  held  * 
and  the  examination,  in  which  he  is  forced  to  acknowl- 

*  Had  he  failed  to  respond  after  three  citations  they  would  have  pro- 
ceeded in  his  absence. 


192  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

edge  the  justice  of  the  charge,  is  carefully  recorded, 
with  questions  and  answers  given  in  full.  As  a  result 
he  is  "suspended  from  sealing  ordinances."  A  com- 
mittee informs  him  of  this  sentence  and  urges  upon 
him  repentance  and  reformation.  Two  years  now 
pass,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  inquire  whether 
still  more  severe  measures  should  not  be  adopted. 
Evidence  is  obtained  that  Mr.  C.  is  now  guilty  of 
bigamy  in  addition  to  the  original  offences.  The 
Presbytery  is  consulted.  A  second  trial  is  held  in 
which  the  accused  makes  a  full  confession,  but  with- 
out due  evidence  of  sorrow.  The  Presbytery,  again 
appealed  to,  counsels  the  imposition  of  the  full  pen- 
alty, and  Mr.  C.  is  accordingly  "excommunicated." 
The  sentence  is  publicly  announced,  and  is  recorded 
in  the  minutes  of  the  session  in  the  following  terms: 
"Whereas  Mr.  C.  hath  been,  by  sufficient  proof,  con- 
victed of  the  sin  of  habitual  intemperance,  and  also 
of  the  crime  of  bigamy,  and  after  much  admonition 
and  prayer  obstinately  refuseth  to  hear  the  church, 
and  hath  manifested  no  evidence  of  repentance ;  there- 
fore in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority,  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  we  pronounce  him  to  be  excluded  from 
the  communion  of  the  church." 

The  penalties  imposed  upon  the  unrepentant  were, 
as  we  have  just  seen,  either  excommunication  or  sus- 
pension, which  involved  especially  exclusion  from 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  which  might  be  publicly 
announced  or  not,  according  to  the  circumstances. 
Those  who  declared  themselves  to  be  repentant  were 
required  to  make  reparation  in  case  of  injuries  done 
to  other  persons,  and  commonly  to  make  a  public 
confession  of  their  sin  and  of  their  sorrow  for  it.     No 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  193 

clearer  conception  of  the  effect  of  this  last  expedient 
could  be  given  than  in  the  record  of  one  pathetic 
instance  which  I  shall  venture  to  quote.  It  may 
seem,  at  first  sight,  to  set  forth  the  session  of  the 
church  as  a  stern  and  awful  court  of  judgment,  but 
even  in  the  formal  record  we  can  surely  hear  a  deep 
note  of  pity  and  tenderness,  by  which  the  judges 
were  really  controlled,  and  which  made  even  so  hard 
a  punishment  as  is  here  described  not  altogether  un- 
bearable. "The  moderator  stated,"  say  the  minutes, 
*'that  information  had  been  communicated,  stating 

the  very  reproachful  conduct  of ,  widow  of , 

one  of  the  members  of  this  church.  .  .  .  The  mod- 
erator also  stated  that  he  had  called  on  Mrs. in 

company  with  one  of  the  session ;  that  Mrs. did 

not  deny  the  fact;    that  she  appeared  penitent  for 

her  crime.  .  .  .  Mrs. herself ,  being  present  [at  the 

session  meeting],  begged  the  privilege  of  confessing 
her  folly,  and  desired  the  forgiveness  of  God  and  the 
church.  She  stated  .  .  .  that  she  felt  she  had  sinned 
greatly  against  God;  that  she  felt  .  .  .  heartily 
sorry  that  she  had  brought  reproach  on  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  that  she  was  willing  to  humble  herself 
in  any  shape  and  seek  forgiveness.  Whereupon, 
Resolved,  after  much  deliberation  and  anxiety,  that 

Mrs.  be  required  to  make  a  public  confession 

before  the  whole  [church]  this  evening,  at  their  quar- 
terly prayer-meeting,  and  be  restored  to  Christian 
privileges.      Resolved    that   the   moderator   publicly 

address  Mrs. ,  and  read,  and  unite  in  singing  the 

51st  Psalm  at  the  close  of  the  exercise,  and  finally 
close  the  whole  with  prayer."  The  purpose  of 
mercy  which  prompted  this  judgment  is  evident,  as 


194  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

has  been  already  said,  but  certainly  much  love  and 
tenderness  in  session  and  congregation  were  neces- 
sary in  order  to  make  the  bearing  of  such  public 
shame  a  true  means  of  grace. 

The  transgressions  that  were  dealt  with  by  these 
faithful  guardians  of  the  flock  were  numerous.  We 
may  divide  them  into  two  separate  classes:  First, 
those  which  were  distinctly  offences  against  religion. 
These  were  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  neglect  of 
prayer,  neglect  of  public  worship,  neglect  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  heresy  (for  example,  "the  crime  of 
disbelieving  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures") and  infidelity  or  atheism.  The  second  class 
consisted  of  offences  against  morals.  Here  intem- 
perance was  the  most  common  charge,  and  there 
were,  besides,  keeping  bad  company,  profanity,  un- 
chastity,  dishonesty  in  various  forms,  card-playing 
and  theatre-going.  There  were  between  thirty  and 
forty  cases  of  discipline  in  the  forty  years  we  are 
now  studying. 

It  is  a  fact  not  unworthy  of  notice  that  discipline 
for  what  was  regarded  as  worldly  and  un-Christian 
amusement  was  inconspicuous,  showing  that  the 
session  used  its  powers  in  no  bitterly  inquisitorial 
spirit.  The  charges  of  card-playing  and  theatre- 
going  above  referred  to  appear  but  three  times  in 
the  records,  and  even  then  were  merely  additional  to 
others  of  a  more  serious  nature.  Dr.  Spring,  it  should 
be  noted,  held  strict  views  in  regard  to  the  grave  dan- 
gers inherent  in  "gay  amusements  and  the  various 
pursuits   of  the   present   scene."  *     He  was  "thor- 

*  Spring's  "Essays,"  p.  191.  See  also  for  quotations  which  follow, 
"Hints  to  Parents,"  p.  24,  and  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  128. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  195 

oughly,  and  more  and  more,  persuaded  that  the 
great  mass  of  novels  and  plays  exert  a  pernicious  in- 
fluence, both  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  character." 
To  dancing  he  was  emphatically  opposed.  It  dis- 
tressed him  greatly  that  Christian  parents  would 
countenance  it  for  their  children,  and  was  led  by  it 
to  exclaim  that  "our  mercurial  youth  live  for  folly 
and  fun."  "Balls  and  assemblies,"  to  his  mind,  were 
the  natural  enemies  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  At  the 
same  time  he  perceived  that  "youth"  (or  as  he  pre- 
ferred to  call  it,  "old  Adam"),  was  a  very  real  force 
in  the  world.  "It  is  a  foregone  conclusion  that  our 
young  people  will  dance,"  he  said  with  a  naive  sort 
of  sadness;  and  he  had  to  confess  that  in  these  mat- 
ters he  had  not  been  able  effectually  to  stem  the  tide. 
Positive  as  he  was  in  his  own  opinion,  it  was  certainly 
a  sign  of  moderation  that  he  practically  did  not  use 
at  all  the  power  of  church  discipline  to  enforce  his 
view. 

The  control  of  the  morals  of  Christians  by  the 
session  acting  in  its  judicatory  capacity  is  now  seldom 
attempted.  In  the  more  complex  life  of  our  great 
modern  cities  it  would  be  almost  impracticable  in  the 
absence  of  any  legal  power  to  summon  witnesses. 
We  have  not  the  ready  means  of  knowing  the  facts 
of  the  inner  life  of  our  neighbors  as  men  did  seventy- 
five  or  a  hundred  years  ago.  Perhaps,  moreover,  our 
repugnance  for  undertaking  this  painful  work  has 
something  to  do  with  our  neglect  of  the  old  method. 
In  this  latter  reason  Dr.  Spring  would  have  had  no 
sympathy  with  us.  "Church  discipline,"  he  said, 
looking  back  upon  the  practice  of  the  Brick  Church 
in  this  matter,  "is  not  less  truly  an  ordinance  of 


196  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

God  than  church  Communion.  No  church  can 
prosper  that  connives  at  heresy  or  immorahty  among 
its  communicants.  ...  It  has  often  been  at  great 
sacrifice  of  feeHng,  and  some  of  interest  and  influ- 
ence, that  these  acts  of  disciphne  have  been  per- 
formed; but,  however  reluctantly  and  cautiously,  it 
is  a  work  that  has  to  be  done.'* 

It  is  unfortunate  that  there  was  no  occasion  for 
the  session  to  inquire  formally  into  the  lives  of  its 
good  and  faithful  members,  whose  record  would  re- 
mind us  that  the  offenders,  who  were  dealt  with  in 
the  way  described  above,  constituted  a  very  small 
minority.  No  such  authoritative  records  exist.  But 
we  will  not  admit  that  Antony  in  the  play  was  right, 
and  that  only  *'the  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them." 
On  the  contrary,  the  good  lived  on,  in  other  and 
better  ways  than  on  the  pages  of  minute  books;  and 
even  in  books,  though  of  the  less  formal  sort,  some 
happy  memories  of  the  individual  members  of  tlie 
Brick  Church  between  1810  and  1850  have  been 
preserved  for  us. 

Two  or  three  such  passages  may  be  quoted,  in  the 
hope  that,  at  least,  they  will  help  the  reader  to  see  with 
his  mind's  eye  the  forms  and  faces  of  some  of  those 
whose  memories  are  cherished  by  the  church,  and  to  feel 
that  he  has  gained  some  personal  acquaintance  with 
these  good  people.  The  first  passage  is  from  an  ad- 
dress by  Horace  Holden,  already  several  times  quoted* 
He  is  looking  back,  in  memory,  to  the  most  faithful 
and  beloved  of  those  officers  of  the  church  who  had 
died  before  the  time  at  which  he  spoke.  They  had, 
all  of  them,  served  in  the  early  years  of  Dr.  Spring's 

♦"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  pp.  146/. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  197 

ministry.  He  says,  *'I  may  not  omit  to  mention  the 
sedate  and  venerable  John  *  Bingham;  the  warm- 
hearted and  heavenly-minded  William  Whitlock;  the 
meek  and  childlike  Richard  Cunningham;  the  intelli- 
gent and  upright  Peter  Hawes ;  the  wise  and  useful  Ste- 
phen Lockwood  ;f  the  respected  and  pious  Rensselaer 
Havens;  the  courteous  Horace  W.  Bulkley;  the  con- 
servative and  gentlemanly  Alfred  de  Forest ;  the  sober- 
minded  John  Stephens;  the  urbane  and  gentle  John 
C.  Ilalsey;  the  amiable  and  exemplary  Daniel  Oak- 
ley; the  earnest  and  devout  Abraham  Bokee;  the 
humble,  lowly  and  refined  John  McComb;  the  guile- 
less and  unassuming  Samuel  Brown;  the  modest 
and  diffident  William  Luyster;  the  sincere  and  un- 
pretending Elijah  Mead;  the  consistent  and  de- 
voted Richard  Harding;  and  John  Adams  the  in- 
flexible and  just."  To  this  list  must  be  added  one 
other  name,  in  words  recorded  by  the  pastor  of  the 
church.  Among  the  members  of  the  original  session, 
all  of  them  men  of  worth  and  influence,  "the  ruling 
spirit,"  says  Dr.  Spring,  "and  the  man  eminent  for 
discernment,  practical  wisdom,  ardent  piety,  and 
vigorous  action,  was  John  Mills."  Thus  much  for 
the  elders  and  deacons  of  those  early  days.  In  regard 
to  the  congregation  as  a  whole  we  fortunately  pos- 
sess, in  an  address  by  one  of  the  later  officers,  a  brief 
characterization  of  the  people  among  whom  Gardiner 
Spring  began  his  ministry.  "As  I  remember  this 
community  in  early  life,"  says  Mr.  Daniel  Lord,  "the 

*  The  Christian  names,  not  in  the  original,  are  here  inserted. 

t  One  of  the  most  competent,  most  esteemed,  and  beloved  members  of 
the  session.  He  was  killed,  almost  in  the  sight  of  Dr.  Spring,  by  a  boiler 
explosion  on  the  steamer  Oliver  Ellsworth,  in  1827.  He  and  his  pastor  were 
returning  together  from  an  ecclesiastical  council  in  Connecticut.  • 


198  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Brick  Church  congregation  was  composed  of  men  in 
the  middle  ranks  of  life — thinking,  working,  inde- 
pendent men ;  men  whom  you  could  not  drive  by  fear, 
nor  coax  by  favor,  and  with  whom  you  could  not  deal 
without  intellectual  conviction.  Convince  them  and 
they  were  yours;  fail  to  convince  them,  and  they 
were  the  most  independent  body  of  men  that  could 
be  seen."  * 

The  other  roll  of  names,  which  shall  form  the 
conclusion  of  this  chapter,  is  of  a  different  character 
from  that  of  Mr.  Holden,  given  above.  It  is  only  an 
extract  fr.om  a  reminiscent  sketch  f  in  a  newspaper, 
and  did  we  not  supplement  it  from  other  sources 
would  give  us  little  more  than  a  glimpse  of  the  outer 
appearance  of  some  of  the  people  who  attended  the 
Brick  Church  in  the  twenties,  thirties,  and  forties  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  yet  even  from  such  a  source 
as  this  we  may  be  able  to  gain  some  impression  of 
the  wholesome  Christian  graces  of  Dr.  Spring's 
parishioners. 

"Let  us  walk  into  the  church  a  fine  Sunday  morn- 
ing in  spring,  and  see  whom  we  shall  find  there — ^you 
and  I,  reader — and  I  will  answer  all  your  questions. 
There  is  Moses  Allen,  with  his  bright,  cheery  face, 
[a  man  generous,  active  in  Christian  work,  and 
prominent  in  all  benevolent  enterprises, J  and  there 

*"Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"p.  154. 

t  By  R.  W.  Newman,  published  in  the  "Evening  Mail"  in  1873.  The 
text  has  been  slightly  rearranged  and  abridged.  Additions  are  indicated 
by  brackets. 

X  This  insertion  is  from  the  session  records,  which  add  also :  "  We  shall 
miss  his  beaming  face.  We  shall  miss  the  affectionate  interest  with  which 
he  regarded  his  associates.  We  shall  miss  his  cheering  words."  Dr. 
Beven,  the  pastor  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Allen's  death,  described  him  in  these 
terms:    "Busy,  familiar  with  earthly  pursuits,  wise  with  the  wisdom  that 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  199 

are]  his  pretty  daughters,  Miss  Priscilla  *  and  Miss 
Charlotte.  They  live  in  St.  John's  Square,  and  are 
among  the  admired  belles  of  their  locale.  There  is 
Eli  Goodwin,  of  the  firm  of  Goodwin,  Fisher  and 
Spencer,  with  his  two  interesting  daughters,  and  a 
little  one,  Caroline,  one  of  our  first  young  ladies  to 
make  the  tour  of  Europe  in  the  old  packet-ship  days. 
She  and  Susan  Spring,f  daughter  of  the  pastor,  were 
in  Paris  together,  and  they  were  there  called  the 
*  beautiful  Americans.'  That  is  Jonathan  Thompson 
with  his  wife;  he  is  Collector  of  our  Custom  House. 
That  is  Daniel  Parish  [one  of  the  trustees,  a  man  of 
energetic  temperament,  reticent  in  speech,  a  strong 
adherent  of  Dr.  Spring  and  the  Brick  Church], J  and 
that  Drake  Mills  [a  trustee  also,  and  described  by  his 
colleagues  as  uniformly  attentive  and  courteous,  one 
who  fully  commanded  both  confidence  and  esteem]. 
"In  the  next  pew  is  Anthony  Dey  and  his  hand- 
some family.  That  is  Miss  Catherine  Patton,  an 
heiress,  step-sister  of  Rev.  Dr.  Patton.  She  has  since 
died,  leaving  handsome  bequests  to  many  charitable 
societies.  There  is  Abijah  Fisher,  a  man  of  talent 
and  poverty,  who  rose  to  great  distinction  by  his 
merits.  That  is  Joseph  Sampson,  a  large  merchant, 
who  lives  at  116  Chambers  Street.    He  recently  lived 

gives  a  man  influence  and  force  among  his  fellow-men,  he  still  lived  as  ever 
in  his  Master's  presence.  There  was  a  peculiar  sweetness  and  gentleness, 
a  simplicity  of  demeanor,  a  directness  of  character  in  him,  which  belonged 
rather  to  the  higher  than  the  lower  life."  He  was  a  prominent  and  prosper- 
ous banker. 

*  Afterward  Mrs.  Thomas  P.  Lathrop. 

t  Afterward  Mrs.  Paul  Spofford. 

X  The  following  note  in  regard  to  him  has  an  interest  beyond  its  refer- 
ence to  himself:  "He  was  very  matter-of-fact  and  indisposed  to  argue  a 
point  when  he  knew  he  was  right,  so  that  he  kept  from  discussing  doc- 
trinal points  which  made  so  large  a  portion  of  the  church  life  of  that  period." 


200  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

in  the  elegant  house  at  the  corner  of  Broad  Street 
and  Broadway,  now  [1873]  in  process  of  demolition. 
There  are  Abner  L.  Ely  [sagacious  in  counsel,  firm 
in  his  convictions,  scrupulously  honest,  generous, 
conscientious,  systematic  in  his  benevolence,*  and 
Jasper  Corning,  whose  family  has  long  been  con- 
nected with  the  church],  and  Thomas  Egleston  [that 
humble-minded  and  consistent  Christian,  'ever  es- 
teeming others  better  than  himself,'  much  beloved 
for  his  uniform  courtesy  and  fidelity]. f  That  tall, 
straight  man  is  George  Douglass,  a  merchant  of  good 
standing  and  a  man  of  great  and  good  mind. 

"That  is  Horace  Holden  of  No.  34  Beekman 
Street.  He  was  a  great  man  in  the  church  [the  right 
hand  of  his  pastor  and  deeply  beloved  by  him — be- 
loved, in  fact,  by  every  one,  an  invaluable  friend, 
*a  Christian  lawyer,'  prompt  and  diligent  in  office, 
cheerful,  useful,  and  wise].|  There  is  Miss  Maria 
Laight,  afterward  Madame  de  Gourley;  and  there 
are  Anson  G.  Phelps  [unostentatious  though  pros- 

*  See  "A  Memorial  of  Abner  L.  Ely  "  (1873).  He  was  a  prominent  real- 
estate  broker.  He  failed  in  the  panic  of  '37.  Thirty  years  later  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  paying  off  the  whole  of  the  old  indebtedness.  The  following 
is  a  portion  of  a  letter  sent  by  one  of  the  creditors  at  that  time.  "  Yours 
of  yesterday,  inclosing  cheque  for  ,  principal  and  interest  on  an  in- 
debtedness to  the  old  firm  of ,  is  at  hand.    I  hardly  know  how  to  ex- 

presstmy  surprise  and  pleasure  in  the  receipt  of  this  money;  not  so  much, 
I  trust,  in  its  money  value  as  from  its  moral  worth.  Your  own  experience 
in  mercantile  life  must  bear  witness  to  the  rarity  of  such  returns,  after 
having  been  outlawed  and  forgotten.  So  far  as  regards  yourself,  it  is  only 
the  natural  outgrowth  of  those  religious  principles  which  you  have  illus- 
trated by  an  active  Christian  life;  and  I  sincerely  thank  you,  and  thank 
God,  for  such  an  example  by  his  followers."  Mr.  Ely's  affection  for  the 
Brick  Church  was  deep  and  constant.  "That  beloved  church,"  he  called  it 
in  a  letter  to  his  pastor,  dictated  from  his  dying  bed. 

t  From  the  session  records. 

t  From  the  trustees'  records  and  Disosway's  "Earliest  Churchea  of 
N.  Y.,"p.  154. 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS  201 

perous,  benevolent,  given  to  hospitality,  especially  if 
the  guest  was  a  clergyman,]*  and  Daniel  Lord,  a 
great  lawyer,  a  man  of  uncommon  industry,  and  of 
the  highest  Christian  character.  He  united  with  the 
church  in  1833,  at  which  time  he  was  marked  as  a 
rising  man.  His  fame  has  since  increased,  and  he 
has  been  engaged  in  every  prominent  case  in  our 
courts  for  many  years. f 

"There  are  James  McCall,  a  merchant  of  high 
standing,  Samuel  B.  Schiefflin,  the  druggist  in  Wil- 
liam Street,  and  Samuel  Marsh, J  of  Erie  Railroad 
fame,  an  old  bachelor  who  lived  at  the  Astor  House 
as  soon  as  it  was  built,  and  continued  to  do  so  till 
he  died.  William  Black,  of  Ball,  Black  &  Co.,  is 
yonder,  and  Isaac  Kip,  father  of  Bishop  Kip  of 
California.  [Mr.  Kip  was  one  of  those  who  had 
been  in  the  church  almost  from  the  beo-inninjr  of 
Dr.  Spring's  pastorate;  and  with  him  must  be  men- 
tioned another  of  the  older  generation,  William 
Couch,  who,  in  the  course  of  his  long  connection  with 
the  church,  served  as  deacon,  elder  and  trustee]. <§. 
Shepherd  Knapp,  [a  leather  merchant  in  the  *  Swamp,' 
and  afterward  for  almost  forty  years  President  of 
the  Mechanics'  National  Bank,  a  close  friend  also  of 

*"Disosway,"  p.  151. 

t  His  colleagues  in  the  session  record  their  appreciation  of  his  "judg- 
ment, charity,  cheerful  service  and  consistent  example,"  which  "have 
tended  to  secure  [the  church's]  harmony  and  prosperity."  Daniel  Webster 
was  his  intimate  friend  and  often  sat  in  his  pew  when  in  New  York. 

I  He  was  a  pew-holder,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  member. 

^  As  deacon  (from  1823)  "he  cared  for  the  poor  with  great  assiduity 
and  wisdom  and  in  the  tender  spirit  of  his  Master."  To  his  duties  as  elder 
(from  1834),  he  brought  "a  firm  independent  judgment  exercised  always 
in  Christian  modesty."  In  the  board  of  trustees  he  served  as  clerk,  then 
as  treasurer,  and  finally  for  many  years  as  president.  From  the  session 
records. 


202  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  pastor,  and  like  Mr.  Couch,  a  holder  of  the  three 
church  offices],  was,  with  his  family,  an  attendant  at 
this  church;  and  Guy  Richards  [admired  and  loved 
for  his  honor,  his  generosity,  his  frankness,  and  his 
genial  courtesy],*  was  a  conspicuous  member." 

*  Thus  characterized  by  one  who  well  remembers  him,  and  who  sup- 
plies also  the  following  facts:  Mr.  Richards'  New  England  home  training 
made  him  ever  a  sincere  and  childlike  believer  in  the  truths  of  Christianity, 
and  for  more  than  forty  years  he  was  a  regular  worshipper  in  the  Brick 
Church.  Not  until  late  in  life,  however,  did  he  make  an  open  confession 
of  his  faith,  being  deterred  by  conscientious  motives.  The  persuasion  of  his 
pastors,  who  had  no  doubt  about  his  fitness,  were  for  a  long  time  ineffectual. 
One  evening,  in  1867,  Dr.  Newman  Hall  preached  in  the  Brick  Churcfi  to 
a  crowded  audience,  from  the  text  Gen.  24  :  31,  "Come  in,  thou  blessed 
of  the  Lord;  wherefore  standest  tliou  without?"  Mr.  Richards,  being  hard 
of  hearing,  was  provided  with  an  arm-chair  and  sat  directly  beneath  the 
pulpit.  That  sermon  brought  him  into  the  church,  he  being  then  above 
eighty  years  of  age.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale,  had  studied  law,  followed 
the  sea  for  several  years,  and  later  was  highly  successful  in  commercial 
life.    The  present  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church  is  his  great-nephew. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  SCHOOLS:    1810-1850 

"  What  children  are  to  be  at  a  more  advanced  age  depends  on  the  character  they 
form  in  childhood.  .  .  .  Here,  then,  at  this  most  interesting  period  of  their  existence, 
.  .  .  when  the  understanding  is  docile,  the  memory  tenacious,  the  fancy  vivid,  the 
sensibilities  tender,  and  the  character  accessible  by  a  thousand  avenues  which  will  be 
closed  in  maturer  age — are  parents  called  on  to  decide  the  deterioration  and  degen- 
eracy or  the  improvement  and  progression  of  human  society." — Gardiner  Spring, 
"  Hints  to  Parents,"  pp.  44  /. 

"Your  children,  which  in  that  day  had  no  knowledge  between  good  and  evil, 
they  shall  go  in  thither,  and  unto  them  will  I  give  [the  land],  and  they  shall  possess 
It." — Deuteronomy  1  :  39. 

IT  will  be  remembered  that,  when  in  1809,  the 
Brick  Church  became  a  separate  ecclesiastical 
body,  it  retained,  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
agreement,  its  one-half  interest  in  the  land  and  build- 
ing of  the  Presbyterian  charity  school  on  Nassau 
Street,  and  a  proportionate  responsibility  for  its  sup- 
port and  management.  Almost  immediately,  how- 
ever, there  came  an  opportunity  to  sell  the  property 
at  an  advantageous  price,  and  thus  dispose  of  the 
joint  control,  which,  had  it  long  continued,  could 
not  but  have  caused  inconvenience.  The  sale,  for 
$6,500,  was  effected  in  the  spring  of  1810. 

The  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church,  although  now 
without  any  school-building,  did  not  intend  that  the 
charity  school  should  cease.  They  entered  at  once 
into  an  arrangement  with  one  Seabury  Ely  to  take 
such  charity  scholars  as  the  Brick  Church  might 
send  to  him,  and  to  instruct  them,  in  quarters  pro- 

203 


204  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

vided  by  himself,  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
school  committee  of  the  trustees.  He  was  to  be 
paid  at  the  rate  of  nine  dollars  a  year  for  each  child, 
books  and  stationery  being  furnished  by  the  church. 
Under  this  arrangement  thirty  *  children  were  in- 
structed in  "all  those  branches  of  literature  which  it  is 
supposed  will  be  most  useful  to  them,"  by  which, 
however,  it  is  likely  that  nothing  more  "literary"  was 
intended  than  reading,  writing,  figuring,  and  the  cate- 
chism. The  church  also  provided  for  the  "  cloathing" 
of  these  scholars.  (It  is  noticeable  that  in  those  days 
spelling  was  never  explicitly  mentioned  as  an  essen- 
tial element  of  education.) 

Our  first  inquiry  concerns  the  sources  of  income 
for  the  carrying  on  of  the  school.  In  November, 
1812,  the  annual  accounts  showed  that  $1,291.22 
had  been  received  "by  collections  and  otherwise," 
and  of  this  $654.60  had  been  expended.  The  word 
"otherwise"  here  employed  refers  evidently  to  cer- 
tain assistance  from  the  State.  For  the  State  had  by 
this  time  begun  tardily  to  feel  its  obligation  to  share 
the  burden  of  educating  the  poor.  A  movement  had 
been  started  by  a  group  of  people  in  New  York  City 
in  1805  to  establish  free  schools  for  such  children  as 
were  not  provided  for  by  any  religious  organization. 
A  society  then  formed  to  accomplish  this  end,  and 
known  afterward  as  "The  Free  School  Society  of 
New  York,"  succeeded  in  opening  in  1809,  in  a 
building  on  Chatham  Street,  the  first  non-sectarian 
school  in  New  York  City.  School  No.  2  followed 
promptly  in  1811.  These  events  had  had  an  indirect 
effect  upon  public  policy,  and  the  State  Legislature 

*  Forty  for  a  limited  period,  beginning  May,  1811. 


THE  SCHOOLS  205 

had,  before  the  time  of  the  separation  of  the  Presby- 
terian churches,  made  a  grant  for  schools,  of  which 
the  Presbyterians  had  received  £626,  6s.,  5d.,  to  be 
held  as  a  fund  whose  interest  should  be  used  for 
the  charity  school  maintained  by  them.  The  Brick 
Church,  after  the  separation,  had  its  proper  share 
of  this  annual  income. 

In  1813,  provision  was  made  for  still  further  State 
aid.  The  Legislature  voted  an  appropriation  and 
ordered  that  that  part  of  it  received  by  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York  should  be  apportioned  among 
the  Free  School  Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society, 
the  Society  of  the  Economical  School,  the  African 
Free  School,  and  those  incorporated  religious  socie- 
ties in  the  city  by  which  charity  schools  were  sup- 
ported. In  return  it  was  necessary  to  make  regular 
reports  to  the  State  Commissioner.  The  funds  thus 
secured,  added  to  the  collections  taken  in  the  church, 
evidently  provided  ample  money  for  the  Brick  Church 
school  expenses. 

The  provision  of  a  permanent  school-house,  on  the 
other  hand,  proved  to  be  a  diflScult  undertaking. 
At  first,  however,  the  prospect  was  hopeful,  for  soon 
after  the  sale  of  the  old  school  property  on  Nassau 
Street,  the  Brick  Church  was  so  fortunate  as  to  ob- 
tain from  the  city  the  grant  of  "Lot  No.  21  in  Augus- 
tus Street,"  agreeing  to  pay  for  it  a  low  annual 
rental.  This  piece  of  land  was  given  with  the  express 
stipulation  that  the  church  should  erect  a  school- 
house  upon  it  and  maintain  a  charity  school  therein: 
otherwise  it  should  revert  to  the  city. 

No  doubt  the  expectation  had  been  to  build  at 
once,  but  almost  immediately  a  time  of  depression  in 


206  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

business  intervened,  caused  by  the  political  disturb- 
ances which  resulted  in  the  War  of  1812.  The  city- 
authorities  in  May,  1813,  deeming  that  the  failure  of 
the  church  to  raise  the  necessary  sum  at  that  unpro- 
pitious  time  was  excusable,  were  pleased  to  extend 
the  period  for  erecting  the  school-house  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  When,  however,  peace  had  been  de- 
clared and  the  months  still  increased  to  years  with- 
out the  fulfilment  of  the  church's  part  of  the  agree- 
ment, the  patience  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City 
was  exhausted,  and  at  some  time  prior  to  November, 
1817,  the  lot  on  Augustus  Street  had  been  declared 
forfeited.  The  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church,  when 
they  applied  for  another  similar  grant,  were  refused, 
and  were  fain  to  be  content  with  receiving  back  from 
the  city  some  $671,  which  they  had  already  paid  on 
the  first  lot.  Thus  ended  the  last  attempt  to  provide 
a  permanent  school-house;  for  by  the  time  that  re- 
turning prosperity  made  the  church  able  to  carry  out 
its  plan,  the  necessity  no  longer  existed. 

Meantime,  during  all  the  years  covered  by  these 
futile  negotiations  the  Brick  Church  scholars  had 
continued  to  be  taught  in  the  manner  already  de- 
scribed, and  for  five  years  of  that  time  Seabury  Ely 
continued  to  be  the  teacher. 

We  learn  from  a  report  to  the  State,  made  in  1814, 
that  the  school  was  held  throughout  the  entire  year, 
and  that  the  largest  number  of  scholars  (31)  attended 
during  the  quarter  extending  from  the  middle  of 
May  to  the  middle  of  August.  The  ages  of  the  chil- 
dren ranged  from  four  to  fifteen  years.  As  to  the 
supervision  of  the  trustees  we  know  that  in  1812  they 
ordered   "that  the  charity  scholars  be  examined  in 


THE  SCHOOLS  207 

the  session  room  quarterly,  the  teacher  being  present 
at  the  examination."  To  the  first  of  these  awful  en- 
counters the  children  were  summoned  on  Saturday, 
June  6th,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

But  our  fullest  information  in  reg:ard  to  the  man- 
agement  of  the  school,  and  indeed,  concerning  its 
whole  character,  is  provided  by  "The  Rules  of  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Charity  School,"  which  were  pre- 
sented by  the  school  committee  of  the  trustees  and 
adopted  by  the  board  in  November,  1814.  They  are 
comprehensive,  and  tell  us  in  considerable  detail  the 
things  we  most  desire  to  know.  We  learn  from  them, 
for  instance,  that  there  were  at  this  time  about  thirty 
children,  boys  and  girls,  and  that  they  were  not  now 
received  at  such  an  early  age  as  formerly,  the  girls 
not  till  they  were  six,  and  the  boys,  evidently  a  duller 
species,  not  until  they  were  seven.  Many  of  these 
little  people  w^ere  orphans,  for  to  such  children  pref- 
erence was  given,  but  in  any  case  they  were  children 
of  Presbyterian  parents  who  were,  or  during  their 
life-time  had  been,  in  full  communion  with  the 
church. 

All  applications  for  admission  were  entered  in  a 
certain  book  which  the  teacher  kept,  and  were  sub- 
mitted in  due  time  to  the  school  committee  of  the 
trustees,  who  made  selection  of  the  fortunate  names. 
No  doubt  the  children  themselves  might  have  ques- 
tioned this  assertion  of  their  good  fortune  in  being 
selected,  for  the  school  was  by  no  means  intended  to 
be  a  place  of  recreation.  At  nine  o'clock  each  morn- 
ing and  again  at  two  each  afternoon  the  scholars 
must  be  at  the  school  door,  and  punctuality  was 
greatly  emphasized.     Still  more  trying  was  the  regu- 


208  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

lation  that  scholars  must  "appear  in  school  with 
their  clothes  clean  and  whole."  The  teacher  was 
strongly  admonished  to  see  to  this  important  matter. 

The  first  study  that  is  mentioned  in  the  rules — 
and  it  has  a  whole  rule  to  itself — is  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism. All  the  scholars  were  "obliged"  to  commit 
to  memory  the  whole  or  (merciful  provision!)  "such 
parts  of  it,  as  they  may  be  found  competent  to"; 
and  on  Wednesday  afternoon  of  each  week,  or  at 
such  other  times  as  might  be  appointed,  they  must 
be  at  the  church  to  recite  what  they  had  learned. 
This  important  study  having  been  arranged  for,  an- 
other single  rule  of  much  less  length  was  enough  to 
cover  all  the  remaining  subjects  in  the  curriculum — 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  "and,  if  circumstances 
permit,  the  principles  of  English  Grammar." 

What  penalties  and  punishments  the  teacher  may 
have  been  allowed  to  inflict  upon  disobedient  or 
negligent  scholars  we  are  not  told.  The  rules  dis-- 
creetly  refrain  from  inquiring  too  curiously  into  that 
subject.  But  under  certain  extreme  conditions  the 
trustees  themselves,  we  learn,  would  step  in  and 
cause  a  scholar  to  be  expelled.  If  a  child  was  absent 
without  adequate  excuse  for  six  days  in  succession  or 

for  more  than  eighteen  days  in  one  quarter  " 

or "  (these  long  dashes,  suggestive  of  a  very 

ominous  pause,  are  copied  accurately  from  the  official 
text  of  the  rules),  "if  any  scholar  shall  be  guilty  of 
misbehavior,  and,  being  admonished  by  the  commit- 
tee, shall  continue  such  misconduct,"  the  sentence  of 
expulsion  must  be  imposed. 

If  a  scholar  did  indeed  thus  misbehave,  the 
record  of  his   conduct    was   set  down  in  that  same 


THE  SCHOOLS  209 

book  of  the  teacher's,  already  mentioned,  and  there 
it  was  carefully  preserved  for  the  eyes  of  the  trustees. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  send  the  record  to  them,  for 
every  week  the  school  was  visited  by  at  least  one  of 
the  board's  school  committee,  and  once  a  month  the 
committee  appeared  in  its  entirety  to  "inspect"  and 
"receive  returns,"  especially  as  to  the  matter  of 
conduct.  Once  in  each  quarter  occurred  the  chief 
visitation,  when  the  entire  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church  "in  a  formal  manner'* 
made  their  appearance  to  "inquire  into  the  profi- 
ciency of  the  scholars  and  the  attention  of  their 
teacher." 

If  Saturday  was  a  holiday,  no  mention  is  made  of 
that  fact.  At  least  Sunday  was  not,  for  here  is  the 
description  of  it.  All  the  children  of  the  school  must 
attend  divine  service,  morning  and  afternoon,  and 
they  must  occupy  the  seats  provided  for  them. 
Moreover,  "during  the  whole  of  the  service,  and  in 
coming  into  and  departing  from  the  church"  they 
must  "demean  themselves  peaceably  and  quietly" 
and  must  "return  from  church  direct  to  their  places 
of  residence."  Finally,  they  must  "remain  at  home 
during  the  day  and  evening"  and  remember  that  the 
Lord's  Day  is  to  be  kept  holy. 

Poor  little  charity  scholars;  their  life,  as  outlined 
in  the  "rules,"  does  not  sound  very  cheerful;  but 
after  all,  if  Mr.  Seabury  Ely  had  any  true  love  for 
children  in  his  heart,  perhaps  their  school-days  were 
happy  in  spite  of  the  committee;  and  in  any  case 
there  was  open  the  usual  expedient  of  children,  who 
turn  even  a  stiff  rule  to  some  cheerful  human  use  by 
regarding  it  as  something  to  be  broken. 


210  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

In  1816  took  place  another  change  even  greater 
than  the  abandonment  of  the  school-building,  and  still 
further  indicative  of  the  fact  that  the  denominational 
schools  were  on  the  wane.  The  Presbyterians  in  that 
year  ceased  to  hire  their  own  teacher  and  sent  their 
charity  scholars  to  Free  School  No.  1,  paying  over  to 
the  commissioners  of  that  school  the  portion  of  State 
funds  received  by  the  Brick  Church,  only  stipulating 
that  the  Bible  should  be  read  in  the  school  daily. 
The  sole  direct  responsibility,  therefore,  which  con- 
tinued to  devolve  upon  the  trustees  was  the  clothing 
of  their  scholars,  and  for  this  purpose  they  still 
caused  a  collection  to  be  taken  annually,  in  Novem- 
ber or  December,  until  the  year  1829.  Then  a 
legacy  from  Mrs.  Catherine  Ryan,  expressly  for  the 
use  of  the  charity  scholars,  provided  the  trustees  with 
all  the  money  needed,  and  accordingly  the  collections 
ceased.  At  last  in  May,  1834,  we  find  recorded  a 
vote  that  any  balance  at  that  time  remaining  in  the 
Ryan  legacy  should  be  turned  over  to  the  Sunday- 
schools  of  the  church,  from  which  it  is  evident  that 
the  whole  charity  school  system  had  come  to  an  end. 

For  the  full  explanation  of  this  we  must  refer  to  a 
few  facts  outside  of  the  history  of  the  church.  Ten 
years  before  this  time  there  had  begun  a  decided 
movement  to  remove  the  schools  from  religious  in- 
fluence. The  churches  themselves  had  largely  con- 
tributed to  this  result  by  their  denominational  rival- 
ries, as  we  perceive  in  an  incident  of  the  year  1824, 
when  the  suspicion  that  a  certain  church  was  trying 
to  claim  as  scholars  children  belonging  more  natu- 
rally to  other  congregations,  led  the  Free  School 
Society  and  certain  churches,   including  the  Brick 


THE  SCHOOLS  ^11 

Church,  to  protest  vigorously  and  demand  a  firm 
restriction  of  the  offending  church  to  the  limits  of  its 
own  parish. 

It  was  significant,  too,  that  at  this  time,  New  York 
State,  and  a  year  later  New  York  City,  excluded  the 
clergy  and  the  churches  from  administering  the 
school  fund.  The  gradual  relinquishment  by  the 
Brick  Church  of  its  charity  school  was,  therefore,  not 
peculiar  to  that  church,  but  a  result  of  the  general 
situation.  As  reported  by  Dr.  Spring  in  a  speech 
some  years  later,  the  Brick  Church  was  solicited  to 
surrender  its  individual  rights  and  denominational 
feelings  for  the  sake  of  the  general  good,  and 
promises,  he  said,  were  made,  not  in  writing,  but  "as 
a  solemn  matter  of  compromise  and  contract,"  that 
if  the  Brick  Church  withdrew  from  the  field,  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  should  hold  itself  free  from  any 
other  religious  control  or  influence.  From  this  time 
the  Brick  Church  took  no  further  part  in  the  work  of 
secular  education. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  above  that  when  the 
Ryan  Fund  seemed  about  to  lie  idle  through  the  dis- 
continuance of  the  charity  school,  the  trustees  were 
able  to  transfer  it  to  a  kindred  institution.  The  fact 
was,  that  as  the  church's  secular  school  waned  to  its 
extinction,  two  Sunday-schools,  which  the  Brick 
Church  people  had  founded,  were  flourishing  more 
and  more,  and  had  gradually  become  a  chief  interest 
of  the  church.  We  must  now  turn  to  study  their 
origin  and  growth. 

In  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century    Sunday-schools    were    a    decided    novelty. 


ei^  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Even  in  England  the  idea  was  but  twenty  years  old, 
having  been  originated  by  Robert  Raikes  in  1781  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  poor  children  of  Gloucester. 
In  Great  Britain  the  movement  spread  with  aston- 
ishing rapidity,  and  more  slowly  it  made  its  way  to 
America.  In  New  York  it  is  said  that  the  first  school 
was  opened  by  a  poor  negro  woman  in  1793,  but  with 
more  certainty  the  beginning  there  may  be  dated 
from  the  school  of  a  Mrs.  Graham  and  her  daughter, 
Mrs.  Bethune,  who  had  seen  the  English  schools  in 
operation,  and  now  started  one  in  New  York  in  a 
private  house  in  1801.  By  this  time  the  teachers, 
who  in  the  earlier  schools  elsewhere  had  been  paid 
at  the  rate  of  a  shilling  a  Sunday,  were  volunteers. 
It  is  noticeable,  also,  that  from  the  beginning  they 
had  been  women. 

Two  more  schools  were  started  in  the  city  by 
1804,  and  these  also  were  the  work  of  private  indi- 
viduals. It  was  not  until  nine  years  later  that  a, 
Sunday-school  was  started  by  one  of  the  churches, 
the  old  Dutch  Church  on  Garden  Street.  But  the 
advantages  of  this  plan  were  at  once  apparent,  es- 
pecially in  giving  more  permanence  than  private 
management  could  secure;  and  when  in  February, 
1816,  the  "New  York  Sunday-school  Union*'  *  was 
organized,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  throughout  the  city,  the  church- 
school  had  practically  won  the  field. 

Dr.  Spring  was  among  those  who  joined  in  the 
formation  of  this  Union,  and  one  of  its  early  meet- 
ings was  held  in  the  Brick  Church;  but  the  best  evi- 

*  See  "Semi-Centennial  Memorial  Discourse  of  the  Sunday-school 
Union,"  by  Isaac  F.  Ferris,  D.D.,  1866. 


THE  SCHOOLS  213 

dence  of  the  church's  hearty  interest  in  the  move- 
ment was  its  establishment  of  two  Sunday-schools  of 
its  own  in  the  very  first  year  of  the  Union's  existence. 
These  were  ''No.  3,"  *  on  Fair  (now  Fulton)  Street, 
and  "No.  23"  on  Henry  Street. 

Why,  it  may  be  asked,  was  no  school  started  in 
immediate  connection  with  the  church  itself.^  The 
"Old  White  Lecture  Room"  would  have  been  avail- 
able for  the  purpose,  and  very  convenient  for  a  ma- 
jority of  the  children  of  the  church.  But  it  must  be 
understood  that  these  early  Sunday-schools  were  not 
intended  for  the  children  of  the  church  at  all.  These 
were  trained  by  their  own  parents  at  home,  the 
church  undertaking  merely  to  assure  itself  of  the 
thoroughness  of  their  home  instruction,  by  bringing 
the  children  together  for  the  recitation  of  the  cate- 
chism on  a  week-day  afternoon.  The  Sunday-schools, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  distinctly  missionary  insti- 
tutions. They  were  intended  for  children  belonging 
to  the  poor  and  ignorant  classes,  and  were  regarded 
merely  as  a  substitute  for  the  home  teaching  which 
was  lacking  in  their  case. 

Of  the  history  of  the  first  sixteen  years  of  the 
Brick  Church  Sunday-schools  we  unfortunately  know 
but  little.  The  records  prior  to  1832  have  been 
lost,f  and  the  references  in  the  session  and  trustees' 
minutes  are  few  and  fragmentary.  We  do  not  even 
know  the  number  of  schools  maintained  through- 
out this  period — whether,  for  example,  there  were 

*  No.  1  was  the  school  of  the  Garden  Street  Dutch  Church  referred  to 
above.    No.  2  was  started  by  the  Wall  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 

t  A  note  written  in  1837,  states  that  these  earlier  records  were  then  "  in 
the  possession  of  Miss  Delia  Stevens."  She  moved  from  New  York  about 
May,  1838. 


214  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ever  more  than  two,  or  how  long  precisely  the  second 
of  the  original  schools,  "No.  23,"  was  continued.* 
We  know  nothing  of  the  manner  in  which  the  schools 
were  governed,  except  that  they  had  superintend- 
ents,! as  at  the  present  time,  elected,  apparently, 
by  the  teachers,  and  that  the  general  rules  of  the 
Union  provided  for  a  board  of  management,  and 
systematic  visitation  by  a  committee.  Apparently 
the  instruction  was  biblical,  for  there  is  reference  to 
the  committing  of  passages  of  Scripture  to  memory 
(reward  tickets  were  given  for  proficiency  in  this, 
as  well  as  for  attendance  and  good  behavior),  and 
one  at  least  of  the  Brick  Church  schools  seems 
early  to  have  tried  with  success  a  plan  of  "selected 
and  limited  lessons,"  first  put  forth  in  New  York  in 
1824.  All  the  further  details  that  we  possess  on  this 
period  are  given  in  a  report  to  the  Union  for  1827, J 
from  which  we  learn  that  at  that  time  School  No.  3 

*The  facts  known  to  us  are  very  perplexing.  In  1817  and  1818  there 
are  references  in  the  trustees'  minutes  to  "The  Sabbath  school  [singular] 
connected  with  this  church,"  yet,  apparently,  schools  No.  3  and  No.  23 
were  both  in  existence  long  after  that.  From  1819  to  1825  "schools"  are 
consistently  referred  to  in  the  records.  Then  again  in  1826  the  singular 
number  is  used,  and  this  falls  in  with  the  fact  that  the  report  of  the  Sunday- 
school  Union  for  the  next  year  (which  happens  to  be  in  existence)  includes 
no  mention  of  School  No.  23.  We  should,  therefore,  be  certain  that  this 
second  Brick  Church  school  had  been  discontinued  by  this  time,  were  there 
not  references  in  1828,  1831  and  May,  1832,  to  "schools"  once  more. 
Before  October,  1832,  some  sort  of  a  "  union "  had  taken  place  in  connec- 
tion with  the  schools  of  the  Brick  Church,  and  after  December,  1833,  there 
was  certainly  but  one  school  for  several  years.  In  1839  the  girls'  depart- 
ment of  the  school  is  referred  to  as  "  The  Female  Sabbath-school  attached 
to  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church."  Possibly  this  suggests  the  explanation 
of  the  plural  used  between  1828  and  1832,  and  also  of  the  "union,"  in  the 
latter  year. 

t  See  Appendix  J,  p.  527. 

t  See  "Semi-Centennial  Memorial  Discourse  of  the  N.  Y.  Sunday-school 
Union,"  1866,  by  Rev.  Isaac  F.  Ferris,  D.D.,  p.  14. 


THE  SCHOOLS  215 

was  for  boys  only,  sixty-seven  being  enrolled;  that 
there  were  twenty-one  teachers,  all  men;  that  there 
was  a  library  connected  with  the  school  including 
nearly  four  hundred  volumes;  and  that  the  school 
was  then  situated  at  208  William  Street.* 

When,  beginning  with  1832,  our  information  be- 
comes more  detailed  we  find  that  a  number  of  im- 
portant changes  have  taken  place.  For  one  thing,  as 
soon  as  the  new  chapel  was  completed,  in  December 
of  that  year,  the  Sunday-school  took  possession  of 
the  rooms  in  that  building  which  had  been  especially 
designed  for  its  use,  and  this  change  of  location,  as 
might  be  supposed,  was  indicative  of  another  change 
still  more  radical.  The  scholars  were  no  longer 
drawn  exclusively  from  the  poor  and  unchurched 
families,  but  included  the  children  of  Presbyterian 
parents.  We  do  not  know  when  or  how  this  change 
had  taken  place,  but  at  the  time  now  referred  to  it 
was  an  accomplished  fact,  as  is  evidenced  by  an 
appeal  issued  to  the  church-members  in  January, 
1834,  in  the  hope  that  they  would  interest  themselves 
either  "to  obtain  new  members  or  bring  in  such  of 
their  own  children  as  they  may  have  previously 
withheld."  Another  important  change  that  had 
taken  place  was  the  admission  of  girls,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  women  teachers,  although  "the  male 
department"  continued  to  be  the  larger  portion  of 
the  school. t 

*  From  1819  till  1826,  it  was  the  custom  in  appointing  the  annual 
offering  for  clothing  the  charity  scholars,  to  direct  that  the  surplus,  if  there 
were  any,  should  be  used  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  room  or  rooms  for 
Sunday-school  uses. 

t  In  December,  1833,  there  were  seventeen  men  and  fourteen  women 
enrolled  as  teachers. 


216  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

In  1833  and  1834,  it  is  evident  from  the  records, 
the  school  was  undergoing  a  thorough  reorganiza- 
tion, and  when  this  had  been  accomplished  a  good 
deal  of  satisfaction  was  felt  in  the  result.  The  secre- 
tary, having  been  requested  to  "furnish  some  brief 
statement  of  the  present  situation  of  the  school  to 
such  of  the  church  and  congregation  as  would  prob- 
ably feel  willing  to  exert  their  influence  in  the  cause," 
wrote  "that  the  school  is  in  a  flourishing  condition 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  Mr.  Seward,* 
and  is  well  supplied  with  faithful,  devoted  and  effi- 
cient teachers,"  and  "that  there  has  been  ample  pro- 
vision made  for  an  additional  number  of  scholars." 
The  organization  of  the  school  effected  at  this  time 
remained  practically  unchanged  until  1840,  and  the 
description  about  to  be  given  may  therefore  be  taken 
to  apply  to  the  whole  period  ending  in  that  year. 

There  were  five  officers  elected  annually  by  the 
teachers,  namely,  a  superintendent,  an  assistant  su- 
perintendent, a  female  superintendent,  a  librarian, 
and  a  secretary.  The  treasurer,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  appointed  by  the  session  of  the  church.  The 
teachers  were  apparently  chosen  with  great  care  and 
entered  upon  their  duties  in  a  spirit  of  serious  conse- 
cration. Before  being  appointed  they  were  required 
to  answer  the  following  questions:  "Are  you  so  situ- 
ated in  the  providence  of  God  that  you  can  probably 
hereafter  attend  to  the  duties  of  a  teacher  with  vigor 
and  punctuality.^  Can  you  attend  ordinarily  to  a 
faithful  examination  and  study  of  the  weekly  lesson  ? 
When  your  scholars  are  absent,  can  you  promptly 
visit  them  .^" 

*  Mr,  B.J.  Seward  was  agent  of  the  Sunday-school  Union. 


THE  SCHOOLS  217 

A  fuller  description  of  the  teachers'  duties  is  con- 
tained in  an  appendix  to  the  constitution  *  wherein 
is  stated  what  the  superintendent  expects  the  teach- 
ers to  do.  They  are  to  be  in  their  seats  at  least  five 
minutes  before  the  hour  of  opening  and  "ready  to 
greet  their  scholars  as  they  appear,"  thus  "appro- 
bating punctuality  and  reproving  delinquency."  At 
the  ringing  of  the  bell  and  throughout  the  devotional 
exercises  they  are  to  maintain  in  their  classes  "per- 
fect silence."  They  are  to  allow  "no  idleness  in  any 
class  for  a  moment."  At  the  close  of  the  session  they 
are  always  to  "accompany  their  classes  to  the  door 
of  the  church,  maintaining  order  among  the  schol- 
ars." And  finally,  teachers  who  are  necessarily  ab- 
sent are  expected  to  provide  substitutes. 

Perhaps  more  important  than  rules  and  statements 
of  duties  was  the  spirit  in  which  the  work  was  under- 
taken, as  expressed  in  the  preamble  of  the  constitu- 
tion just  referred  to.  There  "the  teachers  and  con- 
ductors of  Sunday-school  No.  3"  make  it  evident 
that  in  their  opinion  the  work  of  teaching  in  the  Sun- 
day-school was  to  be  regarded  as  no  merely  routine 
exercise,  no  mere  providing  of  a  safe  and  suitable 
occupation  for  children  on  the  Lord's  Day,  but  as 
a  genuine  preparation  of  boys  and  girls  for  Christian 
life  and  especially  for  Christian  service.  It  is  very 
noteworthy  that  they  mention  with  most  emphasis 
the  need  of  missionaries  to  heathen  lands  and  of 
ministers  at  home,  as  their  incentive  to  "unremitting 
labor."  Their  object,  as  they  finally  state  it,  is  "to 
win  souls  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  prepare  them  for 
usefulness  in  his  kingdom." 

*  Adopted  on  December  21st,  1833.    See  Appendix  W,  p.  545. 


218  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Until  1839  two  sessions  of  the  Sunday-school  were 
held  each  Sunday,  the  first  beginning  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning  throughout  the  year,  while  the  second 
began  at  half-past  one  in  the  afternoon  from  the  first 
of  October  to  the  first  of  May,  and  at  two  o'clock 
from  May  to  October.  In  June,  1839,  it  was  decided 
to  omit  the  afternoon  session  for  three  months,  and 
later  in  the  year  it  was  voted  to  make  this  change 
permanent. 

The  sessions  began  and  closed  with  devotional 
exercises,  the  interval  being  filled  by  the  teaching  of 
the  lesson.  For  the  most  part  the  subject  of  study 
was  a  passage  from  the  Scriptures  aided  apparently 
by  some  sort  of  "Question  Book,"  but  the  fourth 
Sunday  of  each  month  was  devoted  to  the  teaching  of 
the  shorter  catechism.  At  the  close  of  the  afternoon 
session  it  was  customary  for  the  superintendent  to 
examine  the  scholars  on  the  lesson  for  the  day. 
Teachers'  meetings  for  the  preparation  of  the  lesson 
were  a  regular  institution.  They  were  held  on  Sat- 
urday evenings  "in  the  committee  room  of  the 
chapel,"  *  and  were  conducted  by  Dr.  Spring. 

The  library  was  evidently  regarded  as  an  important 
department  of  the  work  of  the  school,  though  it  may 
be  feared  that  the  "select  books"  which  were  pur- 
chased from  time  to  time  were  of  the  sort  that  has 
caused  the  name  "Sunday-school  book"  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  title  of  opprobrium.  Select  though  the 
books  were,  the  children  were  not  allowed  to  choose 
among  them  for  themselves,  but  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  teachers  to  "choose  such  books  from  the  library 
as  they  may  judge  most  proper  for  their  scholars." 

*  Referred  to  sometimes  as  "the  missionary  room." 


THE  SCHOOLS  219 

Once  a  year,  on  a  Sunday  morning  in  April,  the 
school  celebrated  its  anniversary  by  exercises  held  in 
the  church.  We  do  not  know  the  nature  of  the  ser- 
vice except  that  the  secretary  read  a  report  which, 
sometimes  at  least,  included  a  sort  of  history  of  the 
school,  that  Dr.  Spring  preached  a  sermon  appro- 
priate to  the  day,  and  that  on  that  occasion  it  was 
customary  "to  have  the  female  scholars  and  their 
teachers  sit  in  the  front  seats  of  the  gallery  next 
the  Park,  and  the  male  scholars  and  teachers  op- 
posite." 

In  the  summer  of  1837  a  new  light  broke  upon  the 
Brick  Church  Sunday-school.  Then  for  the  first  time 
it  was  suggested  that  a  small  amount  of  play  be 
mingled  with  the  school's  discipline  and  study.  One 
cannot  but  be  impressed,  in  reading  the  accounts  of 
the  treatment  of  children  in  the  time  of  our  great- 
grandparents,  with  the  almost  utter  ignorance  of  the 
men  of  that  time  in  regard  to  the  child-nature. 
Children  were  then  commonly  dealt  with  much  as 
though  they  were  merely  old  men  and  women  dressed 
in  bibs  and  pinafores.  There  was  barely  any  attempt 
to  appeal  to  distinctly  childish  tastes.  There  was  very 
little  consideration  for  the  inevitable  immaturities  of 
childhood.  Especially  there  was  almost  no  appre- 
ciation of  the  fact  that  all  teaching,  and  religious 
teaching  quite  as  much  as  any,  should  be  adjusted 
accurately  to  the  children's  intelligence  and  ex- 
perience. 

An  illustration  of  this  is  provided  by  the  use  made 
in  the  Brick  Church  Sunday-school  one  Sunday  in 
1850,  of  the  tragic  death  of  a  scholar  resulting  from 
injuries  received   in   an   accident  on   Hague   Street, 


220  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Dr.  Spring,  with  reference  to  the  melancholy  event, 
"addressed  the  children,"  we  are  told,  "on  the  ne- 
cessity of  being  prepared  for  [Christ's]  coming,  and 
the  danger  of  provoking  God's  wrath  and  curse  in 
this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come."  Another  inci- 
dent, which  occurred  a  few  months  earlier,  and 
which  is  curious  enough  to  be  quoted  for  its  own 
sake,  was  no  doubt  made  the  text  for  a  terrifying 
address  upon  the  crime  of  theft.  It  seems  that  in 
May,  1849,  the  superintendent  received  from  some 
unknown  person  a  Bible  in  which,  written  in  pencil 
on  a  slip  of  paper,  was  found  the  following  pathetic 
message:  "To  the  Superintendent  of  this  School. 
Dear  Sir,  about  three  years  ago,  when  the  School  was 
downstairs,  this  Bible  was  stolen  with  some  others 
from  the  bookcase.  Will  you  inquire  for  the  owner 
in  the  school  and  ask  him  to  forgive  and  pray  for  the 
thief." 

But  to  return  to  the  proposal  which  in  1837, 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the 
needs  of  childhood.  As  it  happened  the  plan  then 
proposed  could  not  be  carried  out  at  once,  but  it 
afterward  bore  fruit,  and  even  the  proposal  of  it 
must  have  made  the  life  of  the  little  scholars  dis- 
tinctly more  worth  living.  The  full  record  of  the 
incident  may  be  quoted:  "June  27th,  1837.  By 
agreement  the  teachers  met  this  evening  to  take  into 
consideration  the  utility  of  celebrating  the  coming 
4th  [of]  July  with  the  scholars.  The  committee  re- 
ported verbally  as  follows:  They  have  taken  in  con- 
sideration all  the  places  in  the  neighborhood  suit- 
able to  visit,  and  found  that  they  would  probably  be 
filled  by  many  visitors  and  thus  defeat  the  object  in 


THE  SCHOOLS  221 

view;  and  also  the  lateness  of  notice  prevents  suit- 
able arranoements  for  the  occasion.  It  was  therefore 
concluded  to  postpone  until  another  year." 

In  1840  a  radical  change  in  the  whole  management 
of  the  Sunday-school  was  made  by  the  session  of  the 
church,  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  conditions 
which  then  existed.  Up  to  this  time  the  school, 
though  closely  identified  with  the  church  life,  had 
been  in  a  large  degree  independent.  It  had  ap- 
pointed its  own  officers,*  made  its  own  rules,  deter- 
mined its  own  policy,  without  any  reference  to  the 
session  whatsoever.  The  only  superior  authority  to 
which  it  looked  was  the  New  York  Sunday-school 
Union,  an  outside  and  undenominational  society. 

As  early  as  1836  the  session  had  expressed  some 
uneasiness  in  regard  to  the  situation,  and  had  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  consider  "the  measures  to  be 
pursued  for  the  religious  education  of  the  children," 
and  especially  to  provide  for  some  direct  intercourse 
between  the  children  and  the  oflScers  of  the  church. 
At  that  time,  however,  they  did  not  undertake  to 
interfere  with  the  Sunday-school,  but  merely  adopted 
additional  means  of  ensuring  the  children's  proper 
instruction.  They  were  content  to  appoint  "an 
afternoon  service  in  the  session  room  once  a  month, f 
in  which  the  children  and  youth  of  all  the  church  and 
congregation  may  meet  for  instruction  in  the  cate- 
chism." J     The  older  members  of  the  congregation 

*  Except  the  treasurer.    See  above. 

t  On  the  fourth  Sunday. 

t  At  an  earlier  time,  before  the  day  of  Sunday-schools,  such  a  service 
had  been  held  weekly.  In  1835,  the  General  Assembly  had  expressed  deep 
regret  that  the  Sunday-schools  seemed  to  have  superseded  very  largely 
the  catechetical  instructions  of  the  pastor. 


222  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

were  invited  to  participate,  and  the  pastor  and  elders 
were  to  superintend  the  course  of  instruction. 

This  expedient,  however,  after  about  three  years* 
trial,  proved  to  be  inadequate,  and  on  January  9th, 
1840,  the  session,  "having  taken  into  consideration 
the  existing  state  of  the  Sabbath-schools  *  and  the 
present  plan  of  instruction,"  referred  the  whole  sub- 
ject to  a  committee.  The  report  which  this  com- 
mittee presented  two  weeks  later  is  of  such  interest 
from  several  points  of  view  that  it  must  be  quoted 
in  its  entirety. 

"The  committee  appointed  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  present  system  of  instruction  in  the  Sabbath- 
schools  connected  with  this  congregation,  beg  leave 
to  submit  the  following  suggestions  and  plan  as  their 
report : 

"It  appears  to  your  committee  that  the  original 
design  of  these  schools  has  been  to  a  great  extent 
lost  sight  of,  in  the  almost  exclusive  instruction 
of  the  children  of  families  belonging  to  our  own 
congregation  and  the  gradual  withdrawing  from 
them  of  the  poorer  and  more  ignorant  population 
around  us. 

"It  may  be  assumed  as  a  fact  which  will  not  be 
questioned  that  those  who  receive  instruction  in 
these  schools  are  almost  exclusively  made  up  of  our 
own  congregation.!  This  circumstance  throws  no 
small  weight  of  responsibility  on  this  session  to  in- 
quire into  the  condition  of  the  schools,  both  as  it 
regards  the  system  of  instruction,  the  qualification  of 

*  The  plural  is  frequently  used  at  this  period,  though  it  is  evident  that 
but  one  school  existed,  including  a  boys'  and  a  girls'  department. 

t  Three  years  later  when  114  scholars  were  enrolled,  all  but  fourteen 
were  from  Brick  Church  families. 


THE  SCHOOLS  223 

the  teachers,  and  the  number  and  progress  of  those 
who  are  taught. 

"In  the  prosecution  of  these  inquh'ies  your  com- 
mittee have  been  persuaded  that  there  is  a  diminu- 
tion in  the  number  *  of  young  persons  who  receive 
rehgious  instruction  among  this  people  which  must 
awaken  solicitude  in  the  minds  of  all  who  feel  the 
importance  of  bringing  up  the  youth  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

"Your  committee  have  no  doubt  that  this  is  to  be 
attributed  in  part  to  the  widely  scattered  condition  of 
the  congregation  and  the  great  distance  of  many 
families  from  the  place  of  instruction.  But  they  are 
convinced  that  this  is  not  the  only  evil.  From  a 
variety  of  circumstances  neither  necessary  nor  proper 
to  be  mentioned  in  this  report,  there  has  been  un- 
happily so  great  a  change  of  teachers  in  the  school 
and,  w^ith  few  exceptions,!  such  instability  in  their 
attachment  to  this  particular  field  of  labor  that  more 
than  once  the  whole  system  has  been  not  a  little  em- 
barrassed by  this  single  circumstance. 

"It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  these  frequent  changes 
must  originate  incompetency  in  the  teachers  them- 
selves as  well  as  a  want  of  confidence  in  parents  in 
the  whole  system  of  Sabbath-school  instruction,  and 
both  these  things  are  lamentably  true.  Nor  is  this 
the  whole  evil.  While  parents  have  relinquished  the 
instruction  of  their  children  to  the  Sabbath-school, 
and  while  the  Sabbath-school  has  in  too  great  a  de- 

*•  Whereas  there  were  thirty-one  classes  in  1833,  there  were  but  twenty- 
two  at  the  end  of  1839. 

t  Among  the  notable  exceptions  were  Abner  L.  Ely,  Henry  K.  Bull, 
Albert  Woodruff,  Charles  J.  Steadman,  John  K.  Starin,  Henry  Brewster, 
J.  F.  Donneil,  and  Miss  Delia  Stevens. 


^U  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

gree  failed  to  supply  the  place  of  parents,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  parents  have  not  themselves  resumed  their 
former  wonted  care  of  the  religious  instruction  of 
their  offspring;  so  that  while  the  Sabbath-school  has 
taken  this  great  work  out  of  the  hands  of  parents  and 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  pastor  and  elders,  the  work 
itself  remains  to  a  great  extent  unfulfilled. 

"  There  are  other  evils  also  in  the  very  constitution 
of  the  Sabbath-schools  which  in  the  judgment  of 
your  committee  call  for  the  kind  but  decisive  inter- 
position of  the  session. 

"The  system  of  instruction  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
designed  to  meet  the  views  of  various  denominations 
of  Christians,  necessarily  omits  very  important  truths, 
and  truths  with  which  the  youthful  mind  ought  to  be 
familiar.  It  is  feared  that  teachers  from  among  us, 
with  some  honorable  exceptions,  have  lost  their 
interest  in  the  established  institutions  of  the  Church, 
so  that  there  are  few  '  to  guide  her  among  all  the  sons 
she  hath  brought  up ' ;  and  there  is  that  in  the  system 
which,  while  it  is  independent  of  the  Church  of  God, 
is  insensibly  weakening  her  influence  and  govern- 
ment and  relaxing  those  bonds  by  which  the  mem- 
bers of  a  church  as  individuals  are  bound  and  obliged 
to  walk  together  in  truth  and  love. 

"In  view  of  these  things  your  committee  recom- 
mend the  following  plan  and  resolutions: 

"1.  Resolved  that  the  Sabbath-school  connected 
with  this  congregation  be  placed  under  the  immediate 
superintendence  of  the  pastor  and  an  assistant  elder 
by  whom  all  its  teachers  are  to  be  appointed  and  all 
its  lessons  assigned. 

"2.  Resolved   that,  with   the   exception  of  those 


THE  SCHOOLS  225 

whose  age,  infirmities  or  distance  may  excuse  them, 
all  the  elders  of  this  church  attend  upon  this  service, 
each  one  having  the  superintendence  of  assigned  por- 
tions of  the  school,  for  the  special  purpose  of  securing 
the  attendance  of  its  classes  and,  in  connection  with 
their  teachers,  visiting  the  families  of  which  they  are 
composed. 

**3.  Resolved  that  it  be  the  duty  of  all  the  members 
of  the  church — and  their  Christian  fidelity  is  confi- 
dently relied  on  for  this  purpose — to  take  such  parts 
in  the  instruction  of  the  school  as  shall,  upon  a  full 
view  of  their  relations  and  condition,  be  assigned 
them  by  the  session. 

"4.  Resolved  that  the  session  look  with  confidence 
to  parents  and  guardians  connected  with  this  congre- 
gation to  send  their  children  to  the  school  attached 
to  their  own  church,  to  teach  them  carefully  the 
lessons  at  home,  and  to  make  it  a  business  of 
more  serious  importance  to  furnish  their  minds 
with  instruction  in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  re- 
ligion. 

"5.  Resolved  that  the  pastor  of  this  congregation 
attend  a  weekly  meeting  on  every  Saturday  evening 
with  all  the  teachers,  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
the  lesson  for  the  ensuing  Lord's  Day  and  that  all 
the  Sabbath-school  teachers  belonging  to  this  con- 
gregation, in  whatever  schools  they  may  teach,  be 
invited  to  be  present  at  this  weekly  exercise. 

"6.  Resolved  that  the  monthly  prayer-meeting 
established  for  Sabbath-schools  be  discontinued  and 
henceforth  united  with  the  monthly  prayer-meeting 
of  this  church,  at  which  it  shall  be  considered  a  lead- 
ing object  to  implore  the  divine  blessing  upon  the 


226  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

instructions  of  the  Sabbath-school  and  the  youth  and 
children  of  this  people." 

Unfortunately  the  school  records  close  abruptly 
after  announcing  the  succession  of  the  pastor  to  the 
superintendency.  Perhaps  it  was  thought  that  since 
the  session  was  in  complete  control,  no  separate  rec- 
ords were  longer  necessary.  At  any  rate,  for  the  con- 
ditions that  existed  during  the  next  six  years  we  must 
seek  elsewhere  for  our  information.  Enough,  how- 
ever, is  known  to  assure  us  at  least  that  the  change  of 
policy  was  beneficial.  One  evidence  of  this  is  the 
fact  that  at  some  time  prior  to  1844  a  branch  or 
"mission"  school*  was  started,  an  attempt  to  reach 
once  more  the  poorer  children  for  whom  the  schools 
were  originally  intended.  We  know  also  that  the 
original  Brick  Church  school  (No.  3)  was  slowly  in- 
creasing in  numbers  under  the  session  management. 
In  three  years  it  achieved  a  gain  of  over  twenty  per 
cent.  Further,  the  afternoon  session  was  probably 
resumed  at  this  time,  for  a  little  later  we  find  it  a 
regular  feature  of  the  school. 

Exactly  how  long  the  session  of  the  church  retained 
control  we  do  not  know,  but  probably  it  was  until 
about  1846,  for  when  the  school  records  are  resumed 
at  that  time  the  superintendent  is  found  to  be  a 
layman  once  more,  and  the  minutes  give  the  impres- 
sion that  some  important  readjustment  has  just  taken 
place.  A  new  constitution,  for  example,  is  prepared 
and  adopted,  which  resembles  in  substance  (though 
not  in  form)  the  old  constitution  of  1833.  Probably 
the  session   felt   that   its   object  had  now  been  ac- 

*  Mr.  Woods  was  superintendent.  This  school  is  probably  the  No.  12 
referred  to  later  in  the  records. 


THE  SCHOOLS  227 

complished,  and  at  this  time  gladly  surrendered  the 
burden  of  direct  management  which  it  had  tem- 
porarily assumed. 

In  any  case  the  school  continued  to  prosper.  In 
1847  it  maintained  thirty-five  classes,  including  an 
infant  class  and  Bible  classes,  and  had  on  its  roll  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  scholars,  much  the  largest 
number  recorded  up  to  that  time.  The  standard  of 
its  scholarship,  also,  seems  to  have  been  high,  for  when 
the  children  who  had  memorized  the  whole  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism  were  from  time  to  time  rewarded 
(according  to  a  custom  introduced  in  this  period)  the 
lists  were  surprisingly  long,  while  a  still  larger  num- 
ber of  boys  and  girls  received  Bibles,  Bible  diction- 
aries, Bible  geographies,  "Illustrated  Skethes,"  or 
"small  books"  as  rewards  for  punctual  attendance 
and  good  behavior.  On  one  occasion  a  scholar 
named  Miss  Catherine Halsey  received  a  "gilt  Bible," 
which  must  have  betokened  a  mosj:  extraordinary 
degree  of  goodness  and  punctuality. 

But  perhaps  the  two  most  interesting  developments 
w^ere  those  which  still  remain  to  be  described.  One 
was  the  system  of  visitation,  which  was  at  this  time 
devised  and  put  into  practice.  Here  once  more  we 
see  the  reawakening  of  the  old  sense  of  responsibility 
for  the  children  of  the  ignorant  poor,  the  children  of 
the  slums  as  w^e  should  say  to-day;  and  this  awak- 
ening was  due,  no  doubt,  to  certain  important  changes 
in  outward  conditions.  For  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Brick  Church  on  Beekman  Street  was  now  be- 
coming more  and  mo.re  a  downtown  region,  full  of 
the  bustle  of  business,  and  used  for  residence  by  the 
poorer  classes  only.     How  to  reach  the  many  ne- 


228  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

glected  children  who  lived  within  hearing  distance  of 
the  Brick  Church  bell  became,  therefore,  a  more  and 
more  urgent  problem.  The  officers  and  teachers  of 
the  school  gave  themselves  earnestly  to  the  solving 
of  it.  The  section  of  the  city  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Brick  Church  *  was  by  them  subdivided  into  con- 
venient districts  which  were  assigned  to  individual 
teachers  for  "thorough"  visitation.  Full  reports 
were  then  presented  at  the  teachers'  meetings,  of  the 
whole  number  of  children  in  the  district,  of  those  at- 
tending the  Brick  Church  school  or  other  schools, 
and  of  those  who  attended  none.  Special  pains  were 
taken  "to  ascertain  the  wants  and  supply  the  neces- 
sities of  those  applying  for  aid,"  and  especially  to 
provide  proper  clothing  for  poor  children,  whose 
parents  desired  them  to  attend  the  school. f  A  "  char- 
ities committee"  was  at  the  same  time  appointed  to 
solicit  funds  from  the  congregation  and  to  relieve  the 
cases  of  need  reported  by  the  visitors. 

Finally,  and  this  will  complete  the  subject  of  this 
chapter,  we  must  notice  that  the  Sunday-school,  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  period  we  are  studying,  began 
to  take  a  direct  and  practical  interest  in  missions. 
We  have  seen  already  that  the  moving  purpose  of  the 
workers  had  long  been,  in  no  small  part,  the  pro- 
vision of  such  religious  training  as  might  in  the 
future  prepare  their  scholars  for  the  work  of  the 

*  The  Sunday-school  Union  at  that  time  apportioned  a  certain  district 
to  each  church,  much  as  the  Federation  of  Churches  proposes  to  do  at  the 
present  day. 

t  One  entry  states  that  arrangements  are  to  be  made  for  visiting  "  ma- 
lignant children,"  but  probably  the  secretary  did  not  intend  to  refer  to  the 
young  reprobates  of  the  community.  "  Indigent,"  the  word  used  in  several 
similar  passages,  was  no  doubt  the  adjective  he  meant  to  use  here. 


THE  SCHOOLS  229 

gospel  at  home  and  abroad.  But  now,  in  addition 
to  this,  the  school  began  to  make  direct  contributions 
to  the  work  of  missionaries  already  in  the  field.  The 
initiative  in  this  movement  came  originally  from  one 
of  the  school's  own  teachers.  Miss  Cowdrey,  who 
when  on  a  visit  to  Cincinnati,  in  1836,  was  moved  by 
the  sight  of  "the  destitute  of  the  West,"  and  wrote  to 
her  fellow-workers  in  the  Brick  Church  Sunday- 
school,  begging  a  donation  of  old  question  books, 
hymn  books,  etc.  A  prompt  response  was  made,* 
and  a  precedent  was  set  which  had  important  con- 
sequences. Not  until  the  late  forties,  however,  was 
anything  like  a  habit  of  missionary  giving  estab- 
lished. After  that  we  read  of  comparatively  frequent 
appeals  for  aid  from  Sunday-school  missionaries 
in  the  West,  asking  still  for  books,  but  new  books 
now,  not  old  ones.  "Raising  a  library"  became 
accordingly  a  familiar  undertaking  among  the  Brick 
Church  teachers.  At  last  in  1850,  at  the  very  close 
of  the  period  to  which  this  chapter  is  devoted, 
occurred  an  incident  which  was  dramatic  in  its  effect 
and  launched  the  school  suddenly  upon  the  high 
seas  of  benevolence. 

At  the  teachers'  meeting  on  Sunday,  February 
17th,  a  Mr.  Chidlar  made  an  address  on  "The 
Needs  of  the  W^est."  What  anecdotes  he  may  have 
told  or  what  arguments  he  used  we  do  not  know,  but 
at  length,  pausing  in  his  appeal,  he  unfurled  a  worn 
and  faded  banner  which  had  evidently  seen  long 
service  in  some  Sunday-school.      While  his  hearers 

*  The  secretary  with  singular  accuracy  records  that  247  question  books, 
35  new  hymn  books,  bound  in  leather,  and  31  of  the  same  bound  in  paper, 
were  sent  by  dray  No.  1304  to  Mrs.  Cowdrey,  in  Albion  Place,  to  be  for- 
warded to  her  daughter. 


230  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

were  wondering  what  this  meant,  he  told  them  that 
this  banner  was  one  that  the  Brick  Church  Sunday- 
school  had  itself  sent  out  to  Illinois  eighteen  years 
before.  It  had  now  come  back  from  the  faithful 
workers  on  the  frontier,  with  the  message  that  they 
had  done  with  it  all  that  they,  unaided,  could  pos- 
sibly do,  and  that  to  send  it  westward  again,  unac- 
companied by  the  means  for  carrying  out  its  glorious 
object,  would  be  a  kind  of  cruelty  to  those  brave 
but  exhausted  workers  in  the  West.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  in  a  school  which  was,  as  we  have  seen,  not 
unfamiliar  with  the  cause  of  missions,  such  a  direct 
appeal  as  this  could  not  be  disregarded.  At  once, 
there  was  proposed  and  adopted  a  resolution,  which, 
brief  as  it  is,  still  communicates  to  us  something  of 
the  noble  emotion  which  prompted  it:  "Resolved, 
that  we  will  support  a  missionary  to  be  our  standard- 
bearer  for  the  West,  and  will  supply  him  with  ten 
libraries  to  aid  him  in  his  labors." 

But  this  growth  of  practical  benevolence  in  the 
Sunday-school  *  was,  in  reality,  part  of  a  much  larger 
movement  of  the  same  kind  in  the  church  itself,  and 
this  is  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter,  to  which  we 
must  now  turn. 

*  It  should  be  remarked  that  up  to  this  time  no  attempt  seems  to  have 
been  made  to  interest  the  scholars  in  these  practical  enterprises.  When 
money  was  needed  it  was  raised  by  the  teachers  from  other  members  of 
the  congregation.  The  Sunday-school  was  apparently  supposed  to  consist 
of  two  parts,  opposite  in  character — the  scholars,  who  were  expected  to  be 
for  the  most  part  entirely  passive,  and  the  teachers  and  officers,  by  whom 
the  whole  active  work  was  to  be  done. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MISSIONS  AND    BENEVOLENCE.  1810-1850 

"  In  those  great  and  benevolent  enterprises,  for  which  the  age  In  which  we  live  has 
been  distinguished,  it  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  Brick  Church  to  bear  her  part. 
Taking  the  forty-six  years  of  my  ministry  together,  no  church  in  the  land  has  given 
more  bountifully  to  the  cause  of  domestic  and  foreign  missions." — Gardiner  Sprinq, 
1856,  "The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  p.  29. 

"As  ye  go,  preach,  saying,  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  Heal  the  sick, 
cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils:  freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give." 
—Matthew  10  :7  f. 

WHEN  Gardiner  Spring  came  to  the  Brick 
Church,  almost  all  the  money  received  in 
the  collections  was  used  for  the  church 
expenses.  The  two  established  exceptions,  it  will  be 
recalled,  were  the  annual  collection  for  the  support 
of  the  charity  school  *  and  the  provision  that  on 
communion  Sundays  and  at  the  time  of  the  annual 
charity  sermon  the  collections  should  be  devoted  to 
the  needs  of  the  poor  of  the  church.f  We  have  also 
seen  that  occasional  exceptions  had  begun  to  be 
made  from  time  to  time  in  response  to  special  ap- 
peals, but  as  yet  the  instances  of  these  were  so  few 
and  scattered,  that  they  must  be  regarded  only  as  a 
prophecy  of  greater  things  to  comcj 

Under  Dr.  Spring  the  collections  for  the  poor  § 
and,  as  long  as  was  necessary,  for  the  charity  school 

*  See  page  90.  f  See  page  85.  J  See  page  87. 

§  This  money  was  administered  as  formerly  by  the  deacons,  except  that 
a  small  sum  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  pastor  for  special  cases.  The 
funds  appear  to  have  been  ample  till  about  1842,  from  which  date  there 
was  frequently  a  small  deficit,  easily  made  up. 

231 


232  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

continued  as  before;  but  the  growth  of  occasional 
benevolences  was  for  a  time  checked,  apparently  by 
a  combination  of  two  causes.  First,  the  period  of 
business  depression  before  and  during  the  War  of 
1812  made  it  necessary  to  observe  great  economy  in 
the  management  of  the  church's  finances.  And, 
second,  a  custom  had  by  this  time  been  adopted  of 
taking  up  a  special  annual  collection  which  should 
be  in  part  devoted  to  missions.*  This  was  usually 
set  for  a  Sunday  in  April,  and  at  first  (in  1810),  the 
sum  received  was  divided  into  three  equal  parts,  one- 
third  being  "for  the  use  of  the  Presbytery,"  one- third 
"for  missionaries,"  and  the  rest  "for  the  use  of  the 
Commissioners  of  the  General  Assembly."  Five 
years  later  a  different  apportionment  was  made. 
Two-thirds  were  now  to  be  given  to  "The  Education 
Fund,"  and  the  remaining  third  to  be  "divided  be- 
tween the  Commissioners  and  Missionary  Funds." 
This  regularizing  of  the  church's  benevolence,  though 
it  was  but  a  small  beginning,  was  a  distinct  advance 
upon  the  irregular  and  indiscriminate  offerings  of  the 
earlier  period.  Moreover,  the  change  in  the  appor- 
tionment which  has  just  been  mentioned,  omitting 
altogether,  as  it  does,  the  contribution  to  the  purely 
ecclesiastical  expenses  of  Presbytery,t  and  empha- 

*  The  General  Assembly  as  early  as  1791,  had  resolved  "that  the  Pres- 
byteries composing  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  and  that  of 
Philadelphia,  use  their  best  endeavors  to  forward;  yearly  to  the  General 
Treasurer  a  collection  [for  missions]  from  each  of  their  churches."  The 
only  evidence  that  this  was  carried  out  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New 
York  City  is  the  record  of  three  offerings,  in  whole  or  part  for  the  purpose 
of  sending  missionaries  to  the  frontier,  in  1791,  1792,  and  1796.  (See 
above,  p.  87.)  The  next  allusion  to  a  stated  yearly  collection  is  the  one 
referred  to  in  the  text  (1810). 

t  Of  course  the  church  by  some  other  means  than  a  collection  must 
have  continued  to  bear  its  share  in  these  expenses. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      233 

sizing  missionary  and  benevolent  objects,  indicates 
a  most  wholesome  tendency. 

This  one  stated  annual  collection  seems  to  have 
provided  a  sufficient  outlet  for  the  church's  missionary 
benevolence  for  about  eight  years,  but  in  October, 
1818,  the  trustees  passed  a  resolution  which,  simple 
as  it  appears  to  be,  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  ad- 
vance. It  was  the  granting,  to  the  directors  of  the 
African  School,  of  the  use  of  the  Brick  Church  for 
their  anniversary  sermon,  and  of  permission  to  take 
up  a  collection  at  that  time  for  the  institution  which 
they  represented.  It  is  plain  from  this  action  and 
from  other  instances  of  the  same  sort  which  followed 
in  the  succeeding  years  that  the  church's  sense  of  mis- 
sionary responsibility  had  again  begun  to  outgrow 
the  means  provided  for  its  exercise. 

Moreover,  from  without  the  pressure  at  this  time 
had  greatly  increased.  To  this  the  General  Assembly 
had  called  attention  in  a  notable  communication  in 
the  year  1817.  It  had  then  declared:  "The  gradual 
increase  of  gospel  light;  the  extension  of  the  bless- 
ings of  education  to  all  classes  and  ages ;  the  growing 
diffusion  of  missionary  zeal  and  exertions;  the  rapid 
multiplication  of  Bible  societies,  and  through  their 
instrumentality,  the  wonderful  spread  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  word  of  life  in  languages  and  countries 
hitherto  strangers  to  the  sacred  volume ;  the  numerous 
associations  for  evangelical,  benevolent,  and  humane 
purposes,  which  have  arisen,  and  are  daily  arising,  in 
every  part  of  our  bounds;  and,  above  all,  the  convert- 
ing and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  have  been  poured  out  for  some  time  past,  and 
especially  during  the  last  year,  in  many  of  the  con- 


234  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

gregations  belonging  to  our  communion — form  an 
assemblage  which  cannot  fail  to  be  in  a  high  degree 
interesting  and  animating  to  the  friends  of  pure  and 
undefiled  religion;  an  assemblage  which,  while  it 
gratifies  for  the  present  the  pious  and  benevolent 
heart,  must  excite  the  most  precious  hopes  for  the 
future.  Such  mighty  plans  of  benevolence,  such  won- 
derful combinations,  such  a  general  movement  to 
mankind,  in  promoting  the  great  cause  of  human 
happiness,  were  surely  never  before  witnessed. 

"At  such  a  period,  dear  brethren,"  this  utterance 
of  the  Assembly  continues,  "let  it  be  impressed  upon 
the  mind  of  every  member  of  our  church,  that  we  are 
called  to  humble,  diligent,  persevering  exertion. 
Much  has  been  done,  but  much  more  remains  to  be 
done ;  and  much,  we  hope,  will  be  done  by  us.  Every 
day  makes  a  demand  upon  the  time,  the  affections,  the 
prayers,  the  property,  the  influence  of  the  people  of 
God,  which  it  would  be  ingratitude,  cruelty,  nay^ 
treachery,  to  repel."  *  To  the  great  appeal  which 
the  times  were  thus  making  the  Brick  Church  re- 
sponded, slowly  for  a  while,  but  more  and  more  as 
the  years  passed.  From  1821,  there  is  in  the  church 
records  constant  allusion  to  the  granting  of  the  use  of 
the  church, f  and  of  collections,  sometimes  at  special 
services  on  week-days,  but  more  commonly  at  one  of 
the  regular  Sunday  services.  The  number  and  vari- 
ety of  the  causes  to  which  the  Brick  Church  thus 
rendered  material  aid  is  really  astonishing.  Widows, 
orphans,  and  other  poor  persons,  both  young  and  old, 

*  "Assembly  Digest,"  p.  313. 

t  A  nominal  charge  of  two  dollars  was  charged  in  most  cases  as  a  fee 
for  the  sexton. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      235 

students,  sailors,  negroes,  churches  in  America,  in 
Europe  and  in  Asia,  Sunday-schools,  hospitals,  and 
more  kinds  of  missionary  enterprise  than  one  would 
suppose  possible,  were  among  the  debtors  to  the  hos- 
pitality and  liberality  of  the  Brick  Church.*  The 
collections  given  to  these  causes  (thus  diverting 
money,  be  it  remembered,  that  would  otherwise  have 
gone  into  the  church's  own  treasury),  amounted  fre- 
quently to  more  than  $100  each,  and  the  sum  total 
must  have  attained  to  a  very  generous  figure. 

It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  as  appeals  for  these 
special  collections  increased  in  frequency,  the  officers 

*  The  following  is  a  list  of  societies,  etc.,  aided  from  1818  to  1838,  in 
the  ways  described  in  the  text:  The  African  School;  Society  for  the  Relief 
of  Poor  Widows  with  Small  Children;  Institution  in  Amherst  for  the 
Classical  Education  of  Poor  and  Pious  Youths;  N.  Y.  Evangelical  Mis- 
sionary Society;  *N.  Y.  Sunday-school  Union  Society;  *N.  Y.  Religious 
Tract  Society;  Auburn  Theological  Institution;  United  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society;  *  Church  in  West  Farms;  *  United  Domestic  Missionary 
Society;  *  Society  for  Promoting  the  Gospel  among  Seamen;  Church  in 
Scipio;  Orphan  Asylum  Institution;  Presbyterian  Education  Society; 
Female  Sunday-school  Union  Society;  Church  in  St.  Augustine;  *  Mari- 
ners'Church;  *  Marine  Bible  Society;  Young  Men's  Auxiliary  Education 
Society;  Palestine  Mission  Association;  widow  and  children  of  late  James 
C.  Crane,  the  Missionary;  *American  Colonization  Society;  *  Bethel  Union 
(for  Seamen);  Greek  Committee;  Colored  Church  lately  under  pastoral 
charge  of  Mr.  Cornish;  *Port  Society  of  New  York;  *African  Presbyterian 
Church  of  N.  Y.;  N.  Y.  City  Bible  Society;  Infant  Schools  Nos.  1  and  3; 
Female  Lying-in  Asylum;  Sunday-school  No.  42  on  Orange  Street;  Society 
for  Relief  of  Respectable,  Aged,  Indigent  Females;  *  Board  of  Education; 
♦General  Assembly's  Board  of  Missions;  Commissioners'  Fund;  Five 
Points  Sunday-schools;  Matron  Association;  *  Young  Men's  Missionary 
Society;  Seaman's  Friend  Society;  American  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
Foreign  Missions;  *N.  Y.  Young  Men's  Bible  Society;  American  Sunday- 
school  Union;  *N.  Y.  Colonization  Society;  Church  in  St.  Petersburg, 
Russia;  Church  in  Brussels,  Belgium;  N.  Y.  Academy  of  Sacred  Music; 
*Poor  of  the  City.  The  names  are  given  in  the  form  in  which  they  appear 
in  the  church  records.  Those  marked  with  asterisks  received  aid  from  the 
church  two  or  more  times.  The  N.  Y.  Sunday-school  Union,  for  instance, 
was  granted  five  collections  in  the  twenty  years. 


236  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

of  the  church  would  again  grow  dissatisfied  with  such 
a  haphazard  and  unorganized  method  of  distributing 
the  benevolences.  In  giving  full  opportunity  to  the 
growing  spirit  of  liberality,  the  absence  of  a  hard 
and  fast  scheme  had,  for  a  while,  been  advantageous, 
but  the  time  was  bound  to  come  when  it  would  be 
desirable  to  control,  in  a  more  systematic  way,  the 
habit  of  generous  giving  which  had  now  been  well 
established.  There  was,  moreover,  another  objection 
which  made  a  change  expedient.  The  admission  to 
the  Brick  Church  pulpit  of  the  agents,  who  came  to 
plead  the  cause  of  the  various  institutions,  interfered 
seriously  with  the  regular  ministrations  of  the  pastor, 
without  supplying  an  altogether  satisfactory  equiv- 
alent. 

Accordingly,  early  in  1838,  when  the  subject  of 
organizing  the  church's  benevolences  was  seriously 
brought  forward  in  the  session,  the  first  step  taken 
was  to  exclude  agents  altogether,  and  to  provide  that' 
"  hereafter  all  appeals  on  behalf  of  the  religious  chari- 
ties be  made  by  the  pastor  and,  whenever  necessary, 
be  followed  up  by  the  session  and  members  of  the 
church."  *  This,  however,  was  but  a  preliminary  step. 
A  month  later  a  plan  was  presented  and  adopted  by 
which,   it   was   hoped,   the   current   evils   would   be 

*  In  this  matter  the  Brick  Church  was  evidently  helping  to  form  the 
opinion  of  the  Church  at  large.  In  the  next  year  the  General  Assembly 
passed  the  following  resolution:  "That  while  the  necessity  for  agents  is  at 
present  felt  and  recognized  by  the  Assembly,  in  order  ultimately  to  remove 
this  necessity,  and  thus  to  reduce  the  expenditures  of  the  Board,  the  indi- 
vidual agency  and  cooperation  of  every  minister  and  church  session,  in 
forwarding  the  interests  of  this  Board,  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Assem- 
bly, if  faithfully  employed,  with  least  expense  and  the  greatest  certainty 
advance  the  cause  and  multiply  the  resources  of  the  Board."  "Assembly 
Digest,"  p.  315. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      237 

remedied,  and  a  more  adequate  use  made  of  the 
church's  present  opportunity.  What  they  really  pro- 
posed to  do  was  to  expand  the  old  idea  of  the  three- 
cause  offering  taken  in  April,  into  a  much  broader 
and  more  inclusive  scheme  adapted  to  the  later  con- 
ditions. To  this  end  it  was  resolved  that,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  trustees,  five  specified  causes  should 
"receive  the  stated  and  annual  patronage  of  the  congre- 
gation." In  January  of  each  year  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Education  was  to  receive  its  collection,  in 
April  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  in  June  the  American  Tract  Society, 
in  October  the  Sunday-school  Union,  and  in  Novem- 
ber the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Domestic  Missions. 
Nor  was  this  all.  Almost  equally  significant  was  the 
appointment  of  five  special  committees,  of  two  elders 
each,  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  these  five  causes. 
Thus  two  important  results  were  sought  to  be 
accomplished;  first,  it  was  insured  that  henceforth 
the  chief  appeal  to  the  church's  liberality  should 
be  made  by  causes  of  paramount  importance,  and 
second,  the  people  were  to  be  trained  by  pastor 
and  elders  to  feel  that  these  causes  were  worthy  of 
their  regular  and  generous  support.  There  was, 
it  is  true,  a  special  provision  that  collections  should 
from  time  to  time  be  taken  for  "such  other  occasional 
charities  as  the  urgency  of  the  case  may  require,"  but 
at  the  same  time,  there  was  an  evident  intention  that 
these  occasional  appeals  should  become  much  less 
frequent  than  heretofore.  The  money  formerly  avail- 
able for  them  was  now  to  be  appropriated  by  those 
five  objects  selected  by  the  session  as  the  ones  which 
the  Brick  Church  ought  most  strongly  and  constantly 


238  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

to  aid.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  special  offerings  be- 
came, after  this,  noticeably  rare,  and  two  years  later 
a  regulation  that  outside  organizations  should  usu- 
ally be  charged  $25  for  the  use  of  the  church,  tended 
still  further  to  diminish  their  number. 

Reviewing  briefly  the  thirty  years  of  development 
which  reached  a  culmination  at  this  time,  we  observe 
that  the  advance  had  been  by  a  sort  of  pendulum 
movement.  In  1810  an  enlarged  capacity  to  give  to 
missions,  etc.,  evidenced  by  a  growing  readiness  to 
respond  to  occasional  appeals,  was  met  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  regular  annual  offering  mostly  devoted 
to  benevolent  objects.  At  once  the  irregular  benevo- 
lences ceased.  Eight  years  later,  although  the  annual 
collection  still  continued,  the  occasional  offerings 
once  more  made  their  appearance  and  rapidly  multi- 
plied, showing  again  that  there  was  a  surplus  for  be- 
nevolence, over  and  above  the  sum  which  the  existing 
scheme  demanded.  Whereupon  steps  were  again' 
taken  to  adapt  the  scheme  to  the  advance.  The  one 
annual  offering,  mostly  devoted  to  benevolent  objects, 
was  replaced  by  fi.ve  annual  offerings,  entirely  devoted 
to  benevolent  objects.  Once  more  the  custom  of 
occasional  collections  ceased  at  once,  from  which  it 
might  be  inferred  that  the  change  had  accomplished 
its  purpose. 

The  chief  test  of  success,  however,  must,  of  course, 
be  sought  not  merely  in  the  orderly  working  of  the 
scheme,  but  chiefly  in  the  amount  of  money  produced 
by  it  for  benevolent  purposes.  From  this  point  of 
view,  also,  the  result  was  eminently  satisfactory.  In 
1838,  although  the  month  for  the  offering  for  the 
Board  of  Education  had  already  passed  before  the  plan 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      239 

was  adopted,  no  less  than  $3,516.96  was  received  in 
the  four  remaining  collections.  Indeed,  in  this  the 
congregation  had  apparently  outrun  its  real  ability. 
It  was  a  case  of  the  new  broom  performing  a  service 
which,  as  it  grew  old,  it  could  not  maintain.  The 
next  year  all  five  offerings  amounted  to  but  little 
more  than  $2,700.  Even  this,  however,  was  not  un- 
satisfactory, and  the  average  annual  total  for  the 
years  from  1838  to  1850  was  certainly  excellent, 
namely,  $3,330.  Each  year  in  this  period,  except  the 
last,  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  took  the  lead, 
receiving  always  more  than  $1,000.  Domestic  mis- 
sions came  next;  and  the  other  three  were  about  equal 
claimants  for  third  place.  Miscellaneous  offerings 
were  exceedingly  variable;  sometimes  there  were 
none  reported,  and  sometimes  they  amounted  to  sev- 
eral hundred  dollars. 

This  chapter  would  be  incomplete  without  some 
account  of  the  part  played,  directly  and  indirectly,  by 
the  Brick  Church  in  some  of  the  important  religious 
organizations  through  which  its  benevolences  were 
distributed.  It  will  have  been  evident  already  that 
the  forty  years  which  we  have  been  studying  were 
marked  by  an  extraordinary  development  of  such 
organizations.  When  Gardiner  Spring  was  installed 
one  could  almost  have  counted  upon  the  fingers  of 
one's  hands  the  important  societies  then  carrying  on 
benevolent  work,  and  as  for  societies  whose  work  was 
distinctly  Christian,  Christian  in  definite  purpose  as 
well  as  in  general  spirit,  there  were  almost  none  But 
in  1850,  as  we  have  seen,  the  question  for  the  Brick 
Church  was  not  so  much.  How  shall  we  put  our 


240  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

money  at  work  ?  but,  How  shall  we  prevent  it  from 
being  dissipated  among  a  hundred  different  channels 
of  Christian  usefulness?  In  the  marked  change  of 
condition  which  had  thus  taken  place,  the  Brick 
Church  and  its  pastor  had  played  an  active  part. 

The  American  Bible  Society,  for  example,  had  Dr. 
Spring  for  one  of  its  founders.  It  was,  he  tells  us,  his 
privilege,  as  delegate  from  the  New  York  Bible  So- 
ciety, to  sit  in  the  convention  in  New  York  in  1816, 
when  the  national  society  was  organized.  He  was 
afterward  one  of  its  directors,  served  on  one  of  its 
standing  committees,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to 
its  progress  and  efficiency. 

In  a  still  more  interesting  manner  was  the  Brick 
Church  connected  with  the  origin  of  work  for  seamen 
in  America.  In  the  summer  of  1816 — -and,  by  the 
way,  it  will  have  been  noticed  that  this  was  a  very 
eventful  year  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  activities 
of  New  York — some  of  the  members  of  the  Brick' 
Church  held  meetings  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city 
with  the  general  purpose  of  reaching,  if  possible,  the 
neglected  and  churchless  people  of  that  section.  It 
was  noticed  that  certain  of  these  meetings,  held  in 
Water  Street,  were  attended  by  numbers  of  seamen, 
which  suggested  the  holding  of  meetings  for  sailors 
only,  an  entirely  new  idea  in  America  at  that  time. 
The  first  meeting  of  this  sort  was  held  in  a  house  at 
the  corner  of  Front  Street  and  Old  Slip,  and  out  of  it 
grew,  in  time,  the  Mariner's  Church  in  New  York, 
similar  organizations  in  many  other  Atlantic  ports, 
and  finally  the  American  Seaman's  Friend  Society. 

On  one  occasion  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Spring  to  organize  a  movement  was,  nev- 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      241 

ertheless,  so  excellent  an  illustration  of  his  relation  to 
the  larger  interests  of  practical  Christianity,  that  a  de- 
scription of  it  may  be  here  included,  especially  as  he 
himself  speaks  of  it  at  some  length  in  his  own  auto- 
biography. The  object  which  he  had  in  view  was 
Sabbath  reform.  In  1827,  the  year  in  which  he  made 
his  attempt,  conditions  in  respect  to  Sunday  observ- 
ance had  materially  changed  from  those  which 
had  formerly  existed.  "When  I  first  came  to  New 
York,"  wrote  Dr.  Spring,  "Sabbath  desecration  was 
by  no  nieans  so  flagrant  as  it  became  at  a  later 
period.  Carriages  and  carts  were  not  allowed  to  run 
wild  by  our  churches;  an  iron  chain  was  stretched 
across  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets  in  order  to  pro- 
tect the  church,  at  w^hose  altars  I  served,  in  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  its  religious  services.  .  .  .  The  leading 
minds  of  our  fellow-citizens  strongly  favored  a  decent 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Day."  * 

But  as  the  years  passed  "the  men  and  the  times 
changed."  In  1827,  Dr.  Spring  preached  a  series  of 
five  sermons  on  "The  Obligations  of  the  Sabbath," 
the  last  of  which,  on  "The  Sabbath,  a  Blessing  to 
Mankind,"  f  made  so  decided  an  impression  upon 
Mr.  Stephen  Allen,  then  mayor  of  the  city,  that  he 
wrote  to  Dr.  Spring,  asking  him  to  publish  it,  and 
afterward  consented  to  give  his  hearty  cooperation  in 
some  general  effort  for  Sabbath  reform.  He  "en- 
gaged to  preside  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  in 
the  City  Hall,  summoned  through  the  public  press, 
for  the  consideration  of  this  important  subject." 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  141  /. 

t  This  was  printed,  not  only  in  English,  but  in  Italian  and  Modern 
Greek. 


242  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

"I  was  warmly  zealous  in  the  cause,"  says  Dr. 
Spring.  "The  meeting  was  called.  Able  speakers, 
both  clergymen  and  laymen,  saw  the  importance  of 
the  discussion,  and  the  city  was  in  a  glow  of  excite- 
ment. But  long  before  the  appointed  time  the  place 
of  meeting  was  jweoccupied  by  those  who  had  taken 
the  alarm  at  this  supposed,  and  clerical,  invasion  of 
their  civil  rights.  ...  It  was  not  without  difficulty 
that  we  got  into  the  Hall;  our  friends  earnestly 
entreated  me  not  to  attempt  it.  Those  on  whom 
we  relied  to  advocate  our  cause,  one  after  another, 
deserted  us,  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  McLeland  and 
myself  were  left  alone,  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
to  face  the  storm.  We  forced  our  way  through  the 
crowd,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  an  indio^- 
nant  assemblage,  passing  resolutions  requesting  the 
ministers  to  mind  their  own  business.  We  were 
marked  men.  The  excited  multitude  looked  daggers 
at  us.  They  would  not  listen  to  us.  Our  persons 
were  in  danger,  and  we  left  the  Hall  without  the  op- 
portunity even  of  bearing  our  testimony  for  God  and 
the  Sabbath.  There  was  more  zeal  than  wisdom  in 
that  movement.    It  was  a  failure."  * 

But  to  return  to  the  successes.  The  relations  of 
Dr.  Spring  and  the  church  to  the  creation  and  devel- 
opment of  the  New  York  Sunday-school  Union  has 
already  been  alluded  to.  A  still  closer  connection  ex- 
isted between  them  and  certain  societies  which  repre- 
sented the  cause  of  home  missions.  The  New  York 
Missionary  Society,  a  very  old  organization, f  whose 
work  was  done  in  "the  Indian  territory  in  the  remote 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  142  f. 
t  See  above,  page  232. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      243 

West,'*  was  aided  after  1809,  by  an  auxiliary,  known 
as  The  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of  New 
York.  This  society  was  composed  of  young  men 
from  all  the  evangelical  churches  in  the  city  and,  *'by 
the  enthusiastic  spirit  which  animated  it,  gave  a  pow- 
erful impulse  to  the  good  cause,  and  promised  to  be 
one  of  the  important  agencies  in  the  missionary  work." 
Most  unfortunately,  however,  the  society  after  a  few 
years,  was  greatly  hindered  by  internal  differences 
and  jealousies.  This  state  of  things  reached  a  climax 
in  1817,  at  which  time  Dr.  Spring  was  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors.  In  November  of  that  year  a 
Mr.  Cox  was  nominated  as  a  suitable  missionary  to 
be  sent  by  the  society,  but  after  a  prolonged  series  of 
meetings,  held,  as  it  happened,  in  the  session  room  of 
the  Brick  Church,  he  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of 
the  members,  for  the  reason  that  he  represented  a 
somewhat  less  extreme  form  of  Calvinism  than  did 
these  opposers  themselves.  The  minority,  which  in- 
cluded Dr.  Spring,  held  that  the  objections  were  con- 
ceived in  a  spirit  of  bigotry  and  represented  an  at- 
tempt to  achieve  by  main  force  such  a  theological 
narrowing  of  a  supposedly  undenominational  society 
as  would  virtually  exclude  many  of  the  members 
themselves.  The  result  was  that  the  minority  with- 
drew and  formed  a  new  organization,  known  as  the 
New  York  Evangelical  Missionary  Society  of  Young 
Men,  declaring  it  their  belief  that  the  great  needs  of 
the  time  called  upon  true  Christians,  even  if  differing 
"in  important  articles  of  faith,"  to  unite  as  laborers 
for  the  harvest.  This  new  society  at  once  achieved 
a  striking  success,  enrolling  more  than  four  hundred 
members   in   a   few   weeks.      In   its   beginning   Dr. 


244  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Spring  was  a  moving  spirit,  and  his  connection  with 
it  was  afterward  still  closer.  "It  was  my  privilege  as 
the  secretary,"  he  says,  "to  correspond  with  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  to  address  the  communities  to  which 
they  were  sent ;  and  much  as  it  added  to  my  labors, 
it  is  with  thankfulness  that  I  look  back  to  the  part  I 
was  called  to  perform  in  originating  and  sustaining 
this  society.  It  was  an  honor  to  be  a  fellow- worker 
with  them.  .  .  .  They  gathered  around  me,  encour- 
aged, and  strengthened  me,  and  gave  a  hallowed 
influence  to  the  church  of  which  I  was  pastor  and  so 
many  of  them  were  members." 

The  second  home  missionary  organization  in  which 
Dr.  Spring  and  his  church  were  directly  interested 
was  one  of  larger  scope.  Up  to  1826,  the  missionary 
work  in  the  United  States  had  been  carried  on  by  a 
number  of  State  or  city  societies,  but  the  need  of  a 
national  institution  had  for  some  time  been  felt,  and 
at  length,  in  the  year  mentioned,  a  committee  of  the 
home  missionary  workers  in  New  York  City  "ad- 
dressed a  circular  to  a  large  number  of  churches,  in- 
viting them  to  convene  at  the  session  room  of  the 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  an  American  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  .  .  .  The  response  to  this  invitation 
was  a  large  assemblage  in  convention,  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-six  ministers  and  laymen  from  thirteen 
States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,  men  of  high  char- 
acter in  Church  and  State  and  from  four  different 
Christian  denominations,"  *  the  Dutch,  Scotch,  Con- 
gregational and  Presbyterian  Churches.  The  plan  was 
successfully  carried  out,  and  three  Brick  Church  rep- 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  p.  265. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE       245 

resentatives  were  among  the  first  officers  of  the  new- 
society,  Dr.  Spring  as  one  of  the  directors,  Peter 
Hawes  as  treasurer,  and  Stephen  Lockwood  as  re- 
cording secretary. 

If,  in  the  founding  of  the  first  great  American  for- 
eign missionary  society,  the  Brick  Church  did  not 
play  an  equally  prominent  part,  this  was  because  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreig-n  Mis- 
sions  had  already  been  organized  while  Gardiner 
Spring  was  studying  theology  at  x^ndover.  He  was 
present,  however,  as  a  spectator,  at  the  meeting  in 
Bradford,  Mass.,  in  1810,  where  that  famous  Board 
was  first  projected,  and  heard  his  fellow-students  from 
the  seminary,  Mott,  Mills,  Newall,  and  Judson,  pre- 
sent that  "respectful  and  earnest  memorial"  which  led 
directly  to  this  result.  Associated  as  he  was  with 
these  men,  he  could  hardly  fail  to  feel  a  deep  interest 
in  the  subject  of  foreign  missions.  Moreover,  his  own 
father,  Dr.  Samuel  Spring  was,  as  has  been  already 
stated  in  an  earlier  chapter,  one  of  those  who  joined 
in  the  creation  of  the  American  Board.  Dr.  Gardiner 
Spring  narrates  one  interesting  incident  which  oc- 
curred in  his  father's  church,  on  the  Sunday  imme- 
diately following  the  Bradford  meeting.  "On  his 
return  to  Newburyport,"  he  says,  "my  father,  on  the 
Sabbath  morning,  gave  a  brief  narrative  of  the  de- 
votement  of  the  young  men,  .  .  .  and  also  gave 
notice  that  he  would  preach  on  the  subject  in  the 
afternoon,  and  that  after  the  sermon  a  collection 
would  be  taken  up  for  missions  to  the  heathen.  In 
the  days  of  my  youth,"  Dr.  Spring  continues,  "the 
town  of  Newburyport  was  an  active,  commercial  vil- 
lage of  great  enterprise  and  wealth.    My  father's  con- 


246  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

gregation  had  a  large  share  of  the  wealth  of  the  place, 
and  a  large  share  of  its  mercantile  marine,  composed 
of  sea-captains  and  native  mariners.  At  the  close  of 
the  [afternoon]  service,  one  of  the  old  and  rich  sea- 
captains  remarked,  as  he  came  out  from  the  church, 
'the  Doctor  has  given  us  a  grand  sermon,  and  he  has 
preached  all  the  jack-knives  out  of  the  sailors'  pock- 
ets.' On  returning  to  my  father's  house  and  laying 
out  the  collection  on  the  parlor  table,  there  was  gold, 
silver  and  copper,  and  not  a  few  jack-knives.  The 
sailors  had  little  else  to  give.  ...  I  know  not  now 
the  amount  of  the  collection,  and  only  know  that 
such  men  as  William  Bartlett,  Moses  Brown  [and 
others]  contributed  something  besides  jack-knives. 
And  this,  the  first  collection  in  the  United  States  for 
foreign  missions,  was  taken  up  in  the  North  Church 
in  Newburyport,  where,  by  my  father's  hands,  I  was 
baptized."  * 

Interest  in  the  American  Board  may  thus  be  said 
to  have  been  a  part  of  Dr.  Spring's  inheritance,  and 
it  continued  and  increased  after  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Brick  Church.  In  1820  he  published  a  life  of 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  one  of  the  participants  in  the  his- 
toric "Haystack  Prayer  Meeting"  f  in  Williamstown, 
from  which  the  whole  foreign  missionary  movement 

*  "Life  and  Times,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  279  /. 

t  It  is  interesting  that,  according  to  Dr.  Spring's  own  statement,  he 
was  the  first  to  make  known  the  story  of  this  meeting,  in  the  book  referred 
to  in  the  text.  For  this  reason  it  may  be  worth  while  to  give  his  descrip- 
tion of  it  in  full.  "  He  [Mills]  led  them  out  [two  or  three  of  his  more  inti- 
mate fellow-students]  into  a  meadow,  at  a  distance  from  the  college,  to  a 
retirement  probably  familiar  to  himself,  though  little  exposed  to  observa- 
tion or  liable  to  be  approached,  where,  by  the  side  of  a  large  stack  of  hay, 
he  devoted  the  day  to  prayer  and  fasting,  and  familiar  conversation  on  this 
new  and  interesting  theme  [of  foreign  missions];    when,  much  to  his  sur- 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      247 

in  America  started,  and  one  of  those  who  presented 
themselves  for  service  at  the  Bradford  meeting:.  In 
1824,  Dr.  Spring  was  chosen  one  of  the  corporate 
members  of  the  American  Board,  and  he  and  his 
church  were  its  faithful  friends  and  supporters 
through  a  long  series  of  years. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that,  in  accordance  with 
the  organized  system  of  benevolences  inaugurated  in 
the  Brick  Church  in  1838,  the  American  Board  was 
the  organization  appointed  to  receive  the  church's 
foreign  missionary  offering.  This  is  especially  inter- 
esting because  the  Presbyterian  Church  had  formed 
a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  its  own  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  whereas  the  American  Board  was  at  that 
time  interdenominational. 

It  is  natural  for  us  to  wish  that  in  both  their  home 
and  foreign  missionary  work  the  Christian  churches 
of  America  might  have  continued  to  work  together, 
instead  of  starting  independent  and,  in  some  cases, 
rival  organizations.  But  apparently  the  times  were 
not  propitious.  Men  of  differing  views  within  the 
national  organizations  seemed  more  and  more  in- 
clined to  come  into  open  conflict,  and  if  this  could 
not  be  avoided  in  any  other  way,  it  was  better,  as 
even  those  who  were  themselves  most  liberal  agreed, 

prise  and  gratification,  he  found  that  the  Spirit  of  God  had  been  enkin- 
dling in  their  bosoms  the  flame  which  had  been  so  long  burning  in  his  own. 
The  reader  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that,  from  this  hour,  this  en- 
deared retreat  was  often  made  solemn  by  the  presence,  and  hallowed  by  the 
piety,  of  these  dear  young  men.  .  .  .  The  operations  and  existence  of  this 
Society  were  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  college,  and  have  remained  con- 
cealed by  a  veil  which  has  never  been  removed  till  now.  Though  some  of  this 
little  company  yet  remain  on  earth,  I  am  forbidden  by  very  sacred  ties  to 
lisp  any  other  than  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Mills."  "Life  of  Samuel  J. 
MiUs,"  by  Gardiner  Spring  (N.  Y.,  1820),  pp.  29  /. 


248  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

to  create  separate  societies,  which  might  provide  con- 
genial opportunity  for  all  sorts  of  Christians  without 
danger  of  internal  contention.*  Accordingly  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  proceeded  to  create  mission 
boards  of  their  own. 

When  a  distinctively  Presbyterian  Board  had  been 
thus  formed,  it  was  natural,  indeed  almost  inevitable, 
that  Presbyterian  churches  should  sooner  or  later 
rally  to  the  support  of  their  own  organization.  In 
home  missions  this  had  happened  comparatively 
early.  In  the  Brick  Church's  benevolent  system  of 
1838  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  which 
the  church  had  itself  helped  to  found  ten  years 
before,  had  no  place.  Instead,  the  allegiance  of  the 
church  was  pledged  to  the  Board  of  Domestic  Mis- 
sions of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly. 

The  church  and  its  pastor  had  been  criticised  in 
some  quarters  for  this  change  of  front,  especially  as 
they  had  always  been  forward  to  urge  a  liberal  and 


*  The  following  extract  from  an  act  of  the  Presbyterian  General  As- 
sembly in  1840  throws  further  light  upon  this  subject.  "The  relation  in 
which  we  stand  to  other  denominations  furnishes  another  reason  why  we 
should  consolidate  our  strength  and  foster  our  own  institutions.  It  is 
obviously  for  the  interest  of  the  evangelical  churches  in  our  country  that 
they  should  preserve  a  mutually  good  understanding  with  each  other. 
Perhaps  the  best  way  to  secure  this  is  for  each  to  act  in  its  own  appropriate 
sphere,  the  different  denominations  uniting  together  only  in  those  plans 
and  organizations  which  require  no  sacrifice  of  their  distinctive  principles. 
Our  sister  churches  are,  it  is  well  known,  actively  engaged  in  fortifying 
their  respective  positions  and  extending  their  boundaries.  We  are  so  far 
from  complaining  of  this,  that  we  commend  them  for  their  fidelity  to  their 
principles;  and  in  so  far  as  they  are  propagating  the  truth,  we  bid  them 
Godspeed.  But  we  urge  their  activity  as  a  motive  why  we  also  should  be 
up  and  doing.  If  it  becomes  them  to  be  active,  it  becomes  us  much  more. 
For  they  are  imbued  with  a  denominational  feeling  of  long  standing  and 
mighty  energy;  among  us  this  feeling  is  in  its  infancy."  "Assembly 
Digest,"  p.  313. 


MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE      219 

comprehensive  attitude  toward  all  the  large  interests 
of  Christianity.  There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that 
their  action  was  made  necessary  by  the  conditions 
then  existing.  In  1837,  the  American  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  had  come  under  the  control  of  men  who 
represented  that  New  Haven  Theology  which  influ- 
enced the  New  School  Presbyterians,  and  led,  first  to 
the  Exscinding  Acts,  and  then  to  the  New  School 
secession.  One  of  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly, 
in  the  course  of  this  unhappy  development,  was  to 
declare  its  belief  that  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society  had  been  conducted  by  such  methods  as 
were  "exceedingly  injurious  to  the  peace  and  purity 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  in  particular,  that 
some  of  its  managers  designed,  if  possible,  to  "break 
down"  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and  to  "introduce 
and  propagate  opinions  at  Avar  with  the  standards" 
of  Presbyterianism.  It  was,  therefore,  recommended 
that  the  Society  should  cease  to  operate  in  Presby- 
terian churches.*  We  can  hardly  be  surprised  that 
under  such  circumstances  the  Brick  Church,  which, 
however  tolerant  toward  others,  was  itself  firmly  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  the  Old  School  views,  should  feel 
compelled  to  transfer  its  allegiance  to  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Domestic  Missions. 

In  relation  to  foreign  missions  the  change  from 
national  to  denominational  allegiance  was  deferred 
for  some  years  longer,  and  was  less  abruptly  made. 
From  1839  small  sums,  from  five  to  fifteen  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  foreign  missionary  offering  of  the  Brick 
Church,  were  given  to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  prob- 
ably by  the  expressed  desire  of  the  givers.    In  1842, 

♦  "Assembly  Digest,"  pp.  754,  757. 


250  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  Presbytery  having  urged  the  churches  to  do  as 
much  as  they  felt  they  could  to  strengthen  their  own 
organization,  the  Brick  Church  session  declined  to 
do  more  than  regularize  the  special  designation  of 
offerings  for  that  purpose.  Undesignated  offerings 
were  still  to  go  to  the  American  Board,  But  in  the 
next  year,  pressure  no  doubt  continuing,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  undesignated  money  for  foreign 
missions  be  equally  divided  between  the  two  socie- 
ties. Not  until  several  years  later  did  the  American 
Board  cease  altogether  to  be  one  of  the  stated  bene- 
ficiaries of  the  Brick  Church. 

As  we  look  back  over  the  forty  years  whose  history 
has  now  been  completed,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  call 
attention  to  the  great  changes  in  benevolence,  and, 
indeed,  in  every  department  of  the  church  life,  that 
these  years  had  witnessed.  At  the  beginning  the 
church  was  comparatively  weak,  unformed  in  meth- 
od, confined  to  a  rather  narrow  programme  of  Chris-' 
tian  work.  From  this  it  had  grown  to  be  a  strong, 
efficient,  and  highly  influential  organization,  active  in 
every  important  movement,  sharing  liberally  in  the 
growing  work  of  the  Church  at  large,  and  itself  not- 
able for  the  type  of  Christian  character  and  conduct 
which  it  had  succeeded  in  creating  in  its  members. 

Perhaps  it  was  well  that  such  a  church  was  not 
permitted  to  rest  on  its  laurels.  At  about  the  time 
which  we  have  now  reached  it  was  called  upon  to 
face  a  new  and  serious  difficulty,  which  threatened  al- 
most to  cause  its  overthrow.  What  this  was,  and 
how  it  was  met  and  conquered,  the  next  chapter  will 
show. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  LAST  YEARS  ON  BEEKMAN  STREET: 

1850-1856 

"  Had  any  one  told  me  twenty  years  ago  that  I  should  live  to  see  (this  church] 
abandoned  as  a  place  of  religious  worship,  I  should  have  thought  him  a  romancer, 
if  not  a  madman;  yet  the  hour  of  abandonment  has  come." — Gardiner  Spring, 
1856,  "The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  p.  35. 

"Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  thy  house,  and  the  place  where  thine 
honor  dwelleth." — Psalm  26  :  8. 

SEVERAL  allusions  have  already  been  made  to 
the  great  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Brick  Church.  The  truth 
was  that  during  the  eighty-odd  years  from  the  build- 
ing of  the  church  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  relation  of  the  site  on  Beekman  Street 
to  the  rest  of  New  York  had  been  completely  reversed. 
In  1768  the  church  was  at  the  extreme  north  end  of 
the  city;  almost  all  the  residence  quarter  lay  south- 
ward toward  the  Battery.  In  1850,  on  the  other  hand, 
so  greatly  had  New  York  grown,  that  the  church 
found  itself  practically  at  the  extreme  south  end  of 
the  city ;  the  homes  of  the  people  lay  almost  all  to  the 
north  of  it.  The  change  from  residence  to  business 
was  not  yet  complete,  for  hotels  and  boarding-houses 
were  still  to  be  found  in  that  vicinity  in  considerable 
numbers,  but  the  private  houses  had  moved  away 
northward  and  they  had  taken  the  congregation  of 
the  Brick  Church  with  them. 

251 


252  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

The  difficulties  produced  by  this  state  of  things 
will  readily  be  perceived.  In  order  to  carry  on  the 
work  and  worship  of  a  church,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
members  should  come  together  at  frequent  intervals 
in  the  church  building,  and  it  is  desirable  that  they 
should  be  known  to  one  another,  so  that  they  may 
work  together  in  a  friendly  and  cordial  spirit;  but 
when  they  have  moved  to  a  distance  from  the  church, 
and,  not  improbably,  at  the  same  time  have  moved  in 
different  directions,  these  desired  conditions  are  very 
difficult  of  attainment. 

It  will  surprise  most  people  to  learn  that  the  Brick 
Church  had  at  least  begun  to  experience  this  sup- 
posedly modern  difficulty  more  than  twenty  years  be- 
fore 1850,  long  before  one  would  suppose  the  city 
large  enough  to  make  even  the  greatest  distances  in 
it  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  social  intercourse  or  church 
attendance.  It  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  turn  back 
thus  far  in  the  narrative  and  to  trace  through  the  in- 
terval the  development  of  these  conditions  and  their 
effect  upon  the  church's  life  and  the  church's  policy. 
We  will  begin  for  this  purpose  with  the  year  1828. 
None  of  the  Brick  Church  people  were  then  living 
above  Fourth  Street,*  and  yet  the  preface  of  the  little 
church  catalogue,  issued  in  that  year,  remarks  that 

*  It  will,  perhaps,  be  interesting  to  note  the  addresses  of  the  officers  of 
the  church  at  this  time  (as  given  in  the  catalogue  of  1833): 

Elders. — Rensselaer  Havens,  Lafayette  Place;  William  Whitlock,  80 
Franklin  Street;  John  Adams,  144  Thompson  Street;  Alfred  de  Forest, 
26  Bond  Street;  Horace  Holden,  34  Beekman  Street;  Moses  Allen,  113 
Hudson  Street;  Silas  Holmes,  8  College  Place;  Jasper  Corning,  60  Walker 
Street;  Abner  L.  Ely,  394  Pearl  Street. 

Deacons.— William  Couch,  50  Bleecker  Street;  John  McComb,  193 
Fourth  Street;  John  C.  Halsey,  189  Water  Street;  Daniel  Oakley,  Jamaica, 
L.  I.;  Shepherd  Knapp,  76  Beekman  Street;  Elijah  Mead,  48  Cliff  Street; 
Nichol  H.  Deering,  110  Grand  Street. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  253 

"the  great  obstacles  to  a  personal  acquaintance  and 
familiar  intercourse  among  Christians,  in  a  city  like 
this,  are  their  wide  dispersion,  the  continual  change 
in  their  places  of  residence,  and  the  consequent  diffi- 
culty of  ascertaining  where  they  reside  from  year  to 
year."  Indeed  the  catalogue  itself,  which  contained 
chiefly  a  list  of  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  con- 
gregation, was  issued  with  the  express  hope  that 
it  might  in  a  measure  counteract  these  tendencies 
of  the  time,  and  lead  to  the  cultivation  once  more 
of  "that  spirit  of  mutual  intercourse  which  has  in 
former  years  been  so  productive  of  good  to  this 
people." 

Apparently,  in  1828,  the  members  still  managed  to 
attend  the  church  services  with  regularity,  but  a  little 
more  than  ten  years  later  the  session  felt  called  upon 
to  prepare  a  special  circular,  of  which  250  copies  were 
printed,  expressing  to  delinquent  members  the  con- 
cern with  which  the  session  had  observed  their  "  habit- 
ual absence  from  the  public  worship  of  God"  in  the 
church  of  which  they  were  members.  The  cause  of 
this,  the  circular  says,  has  no  doubt  been  in  large 
measure  "the  distance  of  [their]  residence  from  the 
House  of  God,"  although  the  session  is  constrained 
to  attribute  it  in  part  to  a  blameworthy  neglect  of 
duty  also.  "Exemplary  churches,"  the  elders  point- 
edly add,  "are  composed  not  of  members  whose 
names  simply  are  upon  their  records."  If  this  was  the 
state  of  things  among  the  grown-up  people,  it  was  no 
wonder  that  at  this  same  time,  as  was  related  in  a 
former  chapter,  the  children  were  similarly  affected, 
and  that  the  Sunday-school  had  diminished  in  num- 
bers as  a  result  of  "the  widely  scattered  condition  of 


254  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  congregation   and   the  great  distance  of   many 
famiUes  from  the  place  of  instruction." 

In  view  of  such  real  difficulties  as  these,  the  ques- 
tion began  to  be  asked  whether  the  Brick  Church 
would  not  be  forced  to  move,  and  already  various 
rumors  were  current  concerning  its  probable  new 
quarters  and  its  successor  on  the  site  at  Beekman 
Street.  A  New  York  writer  in  1839,  informs  us,  for 
instance,  that  "for  a  year  or  two  past  there  has  been 
some  talk  of  removing  the  Brick  Meeting  House  to 
make  room  for  a  post-office  building.  But  I  be- 
lieve," says  he,  "that  the  danger  is  now  past,  and  the 
venerable  edifice  will  still  continue  to  grace  our  city, 
and  serve  for  many  years  to  come  as  a  temple  for  the 
worship  of  the  Most  High."  * 

The  rumors  here  referred  to  were  not  altogether 
without  foundation.  At  least,  it  was  certain  that  the 
removal  of  the  church  had  been  seriously  considered, 
and  indeed,  all  but  accomplished.  The  initiative  in- 
the  matter  had  come  from  the  city.  In  February, 
1836,  the  chairman  of  "the  Committee  on  Lands  and 
Places,  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen"  had 
written  officially  to  ascertain  whether  the  trustees  of 
the  Brick  Church  would  be  willing  to  surrender  to 
the  Corporation  of  the  city  "the  triangular  piece  of 
ground  now  in  their  possession  on  Nassau,  Beekman, 
and  Chatham  Streets  leased  from  the  Corporation," 
and,  if  so,  what  sum  of  money  they  would  be  willing 
to  accept  by  way  of  compensation. 

The  trustees,   even   at  that  early  date,  regarded 
the  matter  with  sufficient   favor  to   name   a   figure, 

*  "  Familiar  Conversations  on  the  History  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
of  N.  Y.,"  by  R.  Carter,  1839,  pp.  176  /. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  255 

$150,000,  and  even  when  the  Corporation  repKed  to 
this,  offering  $20,000  less,  the  trustees  determined  to 
bring  the  matter  before  the  pew-holders,  in  order  to 
gain  their  necessary  consent.  The  pew-holders, 
however,  by  the  smallest  possible  majority  rejected 
the  proposition.  The  vote  stood  fifty-one  to  fifty. 
It  was  thought  that  they  might  view  the  matter  dif- 
ferently if  the  compensation  were  held  at  the  trus- 
tees' original  figure,  but  when,  four  days  later 
this  also  was  put  to  the  vote,  it  met  with  a  still 
more  decisive  defeat,  sixty-one  noes  against  forty- 
nine  ayes. 

It  would  appear  as  though  the  incident  had  now 
been  closed,  but  evidently  a  good  deal  of  private  ar- 
gument had  been  indulged  in,  and  in  this  manner  a 
large  number  of  converts  made,  for  another  meeting 
of  the  pew^-holders  w^as  held  after  a  month's  time,  and 
at  it  the  former  action  was  reversed.  In  the  preamble 
to  the  resolutions  then  adopted  the  objections  to  the 
Beekman  Street  site  were  again  succinctly  stated. 
"From  the  residence  of  a  large  portion  of  the  families 
of  the  congregation  at  a  distance  from  their  present 
place  of  worship,"  this  preamble  said,  "and  the  in- 
creasing changes  of  residence  into  the  upper  parts  of 
the  city,  the  present  site  of  the  church  is  deemed  less 
promotive  of  the  interest  of  religion  than  one  which 
may  be  selected."  Moreover,  "the  contemplated  im- 
provement of  streets  *  in  the  vicinity  will  render  the 
place  less  quiet  than  it  is,  and  will  be  accompanied 
with  heavy  expenses."     On  these  grounds  the  pew- 

*  The  property  had  already  suffered  from  the  improvement  of  streets, 
the  widening  of  Beekman  Street  in  1831,  and  of  Spruce  Street  (affecting  the 
north  end  of  the  lot)  in  1834.  The  assessment  in  the  one  case  was  $750, 
in  the  other  $2,000. 


g5G  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

holders  voted  to  relinquish  the  property  for  $150,000. 
But  now,  when,  apparently,  this  difficult  step,  from 
which  many  shrank,  no  doubt  even  some  of  those  who 
voted  for  it,  had  been  irrevocably  taken,  one  word 
reduced  the  whole  scheme  to  ruin.  The  Chancellor 
of  the  city,  whose  order  was  necessary  to  the  com- 
pleting of  the  transaction,  refused  to  give  it,  "on  the 
grounds  both  of  law  and  expediency."  As  a  conse- 
quence the  Board  of  Aldermen  withdrew  from  the 
negotiations,  and  the  trustees  necessarily  allowed  the 
matter  to  drop. 

All  this  occurred,  it  will  be  remembered,  before 
1838.  Ten  years  now  passed,  during  which  the  dif- 
ficulties perceptibly  increased.  The  officers  of  the 
church  realized  more  and  more  that  the  removal  from 
Beekman  Street  was  becoming  a  matter  of  the  ut- 
most importance.  Something  must  be  done  before 
the  whole  organization  should  be  imperilled.  It  was 
true  that,  as  yet,  though  the  conditions  were  highly 
inconvenient  and  calculated  to  create  alarm  for  the 
future,  the  church  was  in  a  prosperous  condition,  as 
the  preceding  chapters  have  abundantly  shown.  If 
only  the  Beekman  Street  site  could  by  some  means  be 
exchanged  for  another  before  the  tide  turned,  the 
church  might  yet  be  carried  through  the  crisis  with- 
out any  real  loss. 

Toward  the  close  of  1847,  the  trustees  themselves 
reopened  negotiations.  They  sent  a  formal  address 
to  the  Common  Council  requesting  that  body  either 
to  buy  the  church's  interest  in  the  property  in  ques- 
tion, or  for  a  consideration  to  remove  all  restrictions 
from  it,  and  transfer  to  the  church  "  all  the  right,  title, 
and  interest  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  257 

York  therein."  This  communication,  however,  pro- 
duced no  effect.* 

In  May,  1850,  the  trustees,  who  must  by  this  time 
have  been  a  good  deal  troubled  by  the  situation, 
again  endeavored,  without  success,  to  bring  the 
Common  Council  to  some  agreement.  But  even  had 
they  succeeded,  they  would  now  have  been  too  late 
to  bring  the  church  through  unscathed,  for  in  this 
year  of  1850,  which  we  have  already  marked  in  pre- 
ceding chapters  as  a  turning-point  in  the  church's  his- 
tory, the  difficulties  under  which  the  church  was  labor- 
ing had  become  acute.  The  church  had  visibly  begun 
to  lose  ground,  and  when  this  process  had  once  set  in 
there  was  no  telling  how  rapidly  it  would  advance. 

Of  course  the  strongest  and  most  valued  friends  of 
the  church  stood  by  her.  She  had  no  lack  of  wise  and 
faithful  men  to  fill  her  oflSces.  Her  treasury  was  well 
sustained  by  a  generous  constituency,  which  more 
than  made  up  for  any  falling  off  in  the  pew-rents. 
Indeed,  it  will  be  remembered  that  in  this  very  year 
of  1850,  the  treasurer  had  the  pleasure,  for  the  first 
time  in  a  long  period,  of  announcing  a  balance,  and 

*  It  is  a  rather  amusing  circumstance  that  at  the  same  time  when  these 
deeply  important  matters  were  the  subject  of  correspondence  between  the 
church  and  the  city  government,  the  following  somewhat  insignificant 
matter  was  also  thought  worthy  of  being  carried  direct  to  the  attention  of 
the  city's  Executive:  "Repeated  complaints  having  been  made  to  the 
board  of  trustees  that  the  noise  by  collections  of  boys  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  chapel  is  a  very  serious  annoyance  and  frequently  an  interruption  to 
the  religious  meetings  held  therein;  therefore,  Resolved,  That  a  commu- 
nication be  addressed  to  his  Honor  the  Mayor,  desiring  his  interference  m 
the  premises  and  the  urgent  request  that  he  may  adopt  suitable  measures 
effectually  to  remedy  the  evils  complained  of."  Had  the  city  fathers  per- 
mitted themselves  to  be  guided  by  their  sense  of  humor,  they  might  have 
sent  word  to  the  Brick  Church  trustees,  "We  regret  our  inability  to  buy 
your  church  site  or  remove  the  restriction  in  your  title,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  will  see  that  the  '  collections  of  boya '  are  '  effectually '  dealt  with." 


258  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

this  comfortable  state  of  things,  so  far  as  finances 
were  concerned,  continued  even  for  two  years  longer. 
The  first  danger,  then,  did  not  lie  in  this  direction. 
Rather  it  was  the  spiritual  life  of  the  church  that  was 
primarily  imperilled.  Its  practical  work  was  being 
curtailed,  its  habits  of  religious  observance  were  be- 
ing weakened,  its  accustomed  meetings  and  services, 
upon  which  its  influence  was  so  much  dependent, 
were  being  neglected  more  and  more. 

The  first  direct  effect  was  felt  in  the  week-day  ser- 
vices. For  some  time  it  had  been  difiicult  to  maintain 
them,  but  now  they  were  apparently  about  to  die  out 
altogether.  Judging  by  the  ominous  silence  in  regard 
to  it  for  the  next  six  or  eight  years,  the  prayer-meeting 
did  actually  expire  at  this  time;  but  an  attempt  was 
made  to  save  the  Thursday  evening  lecture  by  hold- 
ing it  in  quarters  uptown,  secured  for  this  purpose. 
"Hope  Chapel,"  a  building  erected  not  long  before, 
on  Broadway  nearly  opposite  Waverly  Place,*  was 
accordingly  hired. f 

Three  years  later,  in  1853,  the  session  proposed  that 
the  second  Sunday  service  also  should  be  held  up- 
town, a  still  more  radical  suggestion.  We  do  not 
know  that  it  was  ever  carried  out,  but  if  not,  it  is 
probable  that  the  service  was  at  once  abandoned 
altogether,  for  we  know  that  a  little  later  this  had 
occurred.     Indeed,  there  were  periods,  possibly  of 

*  It  was  built  by  certain  members  of  the  Stanton  Street  Church  who 
took  their  letters  and  organized  a  church  of  their  own  in  1846.  Mr.  Bel- 
lamy became  their  pastor.  It  became  later  the  Broadway  Baptist  Church. 
"  A  History  of  the  Churches  of  All  Denominations  in  N.  Y.,"  by  J.  Green- 
leaf  (N.  Y  ,1850),  p.  412. 

t  The  precise  date  on  which  this  was  determined  was  October  17th, 
1849,  but  for  the  convenience  of  the  round  number,  1850  has  been  used  in 
the  text  to  date  the  "turning-point." 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  259 

a  year  at  a  time,  when  even  the  Thursday  even- 
ing lecture  was  not  held,  in  Hope  Chapel  or  else- 
where; and  finally  in  May,  1856,  Dr.  Spring,  in  show- 
ing how  utterly  impossible  the  condition  of  things 
had  become,  tells  us  that  the  weekly  lecture,  the 
prayer-meeting,  and  the  Sunday-school  had  all  per- 
force been  discontinued,  while  it  was  with  no  small 
difficulty  that  a  single  service  was  maintained  on  the 
Lord's  Day.  That  the  Brick  Church,  which  a  few 
years  before  had  been  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and 
influential  churches  in  the  city,  should  be  reduced  to 
this  state,  was  an  unhappy,  and,  to  those  who  loved 
it,  a  heart-breaking  fact. 

But  meantime  the  officers  had  not  been  idle.  On 
the  contrary,  as  conditions  grew  worse  and  worse,  in 
the  years  between  1850  and  1856,  they  redoubled 
their  efforts  to  liberate  the  church  from  the  position 
in  which  it  was  manifestly  starving  to  death.  Baf- 
fled as  they  had  been  in  every  attempt  to  dispose  of 
their  rights  in  the  Beekman  Street  lot,  they  proposed 
in  1852,  to  abandon  that  endeavor,  but  at  the  same 
time  held  to  their  purpose  "to  procure  or  build  an- 
other church  edifice  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  to 
be  occupied  as  an  associated  or  colleague  church, 
with  their  present  establishment."  Where  the  money 
was  to  come  from  for  this  costly  enterprise  is  no- 
where explained,  and  it  was  probably  this  financial 
difficulty  that  caused  the  matter  to  be  tabled  from 
meeting  to  meeting  without  any  progress  toward  a 
definite  result.  At  any  rate,  the  scheme  was  at  length 
abandoned,  and  the  trustees  once  more,  with  what 
discouragement  we  can  well  imagine,  were  forced  back 
upon  the  attempt  to  effect  a  sale. 


260  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  refresh  the  reader's 
memory  in  regard  to  the  conditions  which  compli- 
cated this  endeavor,  and  had  thus  far  thwarted  it. 
To  state  the  matter  in  a  sentence,  the  church  did  not 
own  its  property.  It  merely  held  it  on  a  perpetual 
lease,  and,  moreover,  with  the  restriction  that  it  must 
never  be  converted  to  "private,  secular  uses."  It  is 
true  that,  carefully  interpreted,  these  words  did  not 
imply  the  prohibition  of  every  use  that  was  either 
private  or  secular,  but  only  such  use  as  was  both 
private  and  secular;  that  is,  it  was  no  doubt  allow- 
able to  put  the  property  to  a  use  which  was  secular 
but  not  private,  such  as  a  custom-house  or  an  armory, 
or  to  a  use  which  was  private  but  not  secular,  such  as 
a  church  or  a  cemetery.  It  was  only  forbidden  to  put 
it  to  a  use  which  was  both  private  and  secular,  such  as 
a  dwelling-house  or  a  dry-goods  store.  From  this  in- 
terpretation there  was  some  gain,  and  yet  not  very 
much,  when  it  came  to  making  a  sale;  for  though 
some  other  church  or  the  federal  or  State  Government, 
if  one  of  them  acquired  the  Brick  Church's  rights  in 
the  property,  could  use  it  for  some  of  the  purposes 
mentioned  above,  they  would  not  be  very  much  in- 
clined to  acquire  land  which  was  so  strictly  condi- 
tioned, and  which  would,  therefore,  be  transferred 
again  with  great  difficulty,  if  that  should  ever  become 
desirable.  Furthermore,  it  was  questionable  whether 
the  church,  acting  by  itself,  had  the  power  to 
transfer  its  rights  at  all. 

At  one  time,  as  has  been  described  in  an  earlier 
chapter,*  the  Corporation  of  the  city  had  shown  a 
certain  disposition  to  modify  the  restrictive  terms  of 

*  See  pp.  138-140. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  261 

the  original  grant.  In  1831,  when  the  new  chapel 
was  being  built,  permission  had  been  given  to  rent  for 
ordinary  business  purposes  "two  smaller  rooms 
fronting  toward  Chatham  Street,"  "without  affecting 
the  validity  of  the  grant  or  lease."  In  1835  the  Cor- 
poration granted  still  greater  liberty,  for  they  then  so 
modified  the  terms  of  the  grant  "  as  to  authorize  and 
permit  the  said  church,  from  time  to  time  and  at  all 
times  during  the  continuance  of  the  said  lease,  to 
rent  so  much  and  such  parts  of  the  new  edifice  erected 
on  the  rear  of  said  church  as  may  not  be  required  for 
religious  purposes."  From  this  the  church  derived 
decided  benefit,  in  that  the  rental  of  its  rooms  added 
materially  to  its  income ;  but  it  is  evident  that  nothing 
in  these  modifications  of  the  grant  concerning  the  use 
of  the  chapel  made  a  sale  of  the  entire  property  any 
more  easy. 

To  sum  the  whole  matter  up,  it  appeared  that  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  affairs  there  were  but  two  ways 
open  by  which  the  church  could  proceed.  Either  it 
must  obtain  from  the  city,  for  an  equitable  considera- 
tion, a  complete  removal  of  all  restrictions,  so  that 
the  property  could  be  sold  to  any  one  for  any 
purpose  whatsoever,  or  else  the  city  itself  must 
be  induced  to  take  the  property  and  pay  the  church 
the  value  of  the  church's  rights.  In  1847,  as  we 
have  seen,  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  accom- 
plish either  one  of  these  two  things,  but  without 
success.  This  was  still  the  situation  of  affairs  in 
1853. 

But  we  have  as  yet  spoken  of  only  one  set  of  diffi- 
culties by  which  a  sale  was  prevented.  There  were 
also  other  difficulties  of  a  different  sort.    The  church 


262  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

had  been  in  the  habit  of  selKng  its  pews  from  time  to 
time  to  individuals.  It  had  also  sold  in  like  manner 
certain  burial  vaults  in  the  churchyard.  The  pur- 
chasers in  each  of  these  cases  had  thus  acquired  cer- 
tain rights  in  the  property  and  must  be  reckoned 
with  if  the  property  should  be  alienated.  In  regard 
to  the  vaultrowners,  it  was  at  first  proposed  to  sat- 
isfy them  by  the  promise  of  a  reasonable  indemnity, 
but  finally,  before  the  end  of  the  negotiation  which 
we  are  about  to  study,  it  was  deemed  wise  for  the 
church  to  buy  back  the  vaults  and  so  remove  this 
complication  altogether.  It  so  happened  that  a  sec- 
ond widening  of  Beekman  Street  just  at  this  time, 
which  forced  the  removal  of  a  number  of  vaults  in 
any  case,  aided  the  church  materially  in  this  under- 
taking.* 

The  rights  of  the  pew-owners  could  not  be  dealt 
with  in  this  way.  The  sum  required  would  have  been 
very  considerable  and,  moreover,  they  themselves  did 
not  wish  to  sell.  They  preferred,  if  the  church 
moved,  to  have  their  rights  transferred  to  pews  in  the 
new  building.  Meantime,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was 
considered  necessary  to  gain  their  consent  before  any 
sale  of  the  property  could  be  consummated;  and 
they  had  a  will  of  their  own,  which  they  occasionally 
asserted  in  opposition  to  the  measures  proposed  by 
the  trustees.  Happily,  however,  as  time  went  on, 
practically  all  of  them  were  convinced  that  the  change 
of  location  was  necessary.  In  February,  1853,  it  was 
found,  after  a  careful  inquiry,  that  there  was  only 

*  The  city  officials  in  1853  claimed  that  the  opposition  of  the  vault- 
owners  to  a  sale  of  the  property  had  up  to  that  time  been  not  only  one, 
but  the  chief  obstacle  to  an  agreement.  This,  however,  is  extremely 
unlikely. 


,.,..-•  I  s 


1 

0  5 1 1  J  b 

■   I  j  •:                ; 

^    fU I. 

2.j>' 

i 

.. 

-IS*   ^. 

•5 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  263 

one  pew-owner  who  expressed  decided  opposition  to 
the  measure.* 

At  the  same  date  all  nine  trustees  and  nine  mem- 
bers of  the  session,  including  the  pastor,  put  them- 
selves on  record  as  being  of  the  opinion  that  the 
change  must  be  made,  and  the  remaining  two  elders 
declared  that  they  would  at  least  offer  no  opposition. 
Backed  by  this  almost  unanimous  approval,  the 
board  of  trustees  took  an  entirely  new  step ;  they  made 
application  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  an  order 
authorizing  the  Brick  Church  to  dispose  of  its  prop- 
erty "and  to  execute  to  the  purchaser  or  purchasers 
good  and  sufficient  conveyances  therefor." 

In  this  the  trustees  scored  their  first  real  success. 
The  order  was  issued  on  February  15th,  1853.t  Exact- 
ly what  power  it  gave  must  be  thoroughly  understood. 
It  did  not  alter  in  any  way  the  original  restriction 
upon  the  property,  that  it  should  not  be  converted  to 
private,  secular  uses,  but  it  authorized  the  Corpora- 
tion of  the  Brick  Church  "to  sell  and  convey  all  their 
church  property,  lands,  and  tenements,  situate  in  the 
Second  Ward  of  the  City  of  New  York  .  .  .  either 
at  public  or  private  sale,  subject  to  the  conditions  and 
restrictions  contained  in  the  grant."  That  is,  it  was 
now  declared  that,  if  the  church  could  find  a  pur- 
chaser, able  and  willing  to  use  the  property  for  other 
than  private,  secular  uses,  a  legal  sale  could  be  made 
without  any  permission  or  cooperation  of  the  city. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  new  restriction  was  added. 
The  proceeds  of  the  sale  must  be  applied  "to  the 

*  Twenty-one  others  did  not  favor  it,  but  agreed  not  to  oppose,  and  of 
five  the  opinion  was  not  known,  they  being  absent  from  the  city.  See  Ap- 
pendix S,  p.  537. 

I  See  Appendix  X,  p.  547. 


264  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

purchase  of  other  lands  in  said  city  and  to  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  church  edifice  thereon."  This,  of 
course,  was  an  entirely  just  provision.* 

Greatly  encouraged  by  this  evidence  that  the  tide 
had  at  length  turned,  and  assured  of  their  position  in 
a  degree  that  had  not  before  been  possible,  the  trus- 
tees approached  once  more  the  authorities  of  the  city. 
They  had  several  interviews  with  the  Commissioners 
of  the  Sinking  Fund,  and  made  the  offer  to  give 
$15,000  to  the  city  for  a  removal  of  all  restrictions. 
This,  however,  "was  considered  a  sum  too  trifling." 
The  Commissioners  called  attention  to  the  facts,  that 
for  eighty  years  the  church  had  been  exempt  from 
taxation  and  had  enjoyed  freely  the  city's  protection. 
Moreover,  the  value  of  its  property  had  been  greatly 
increased  by  many  improvements  which  had  involved 
the  city  in  a  heavy  debt  and  burdensome  taxation.  It 
was  urged  that  the  trustees  should,  in  view  of  these 
facts,  concede  something  to  the  public  benefit,  "and 
it  is  believed,"  say  the  Commissioners  in  their  report 
to  the  Common  Council,  "that  these  considerations 
have  had  their  influence  in  bringing  the  trustees  up 
from  their  proposition  of  $15,000,"  to  the  accept- 
ance of  the  plan  which  was  finally  agreed  upon. 

By  this  it  was  proposed  that  the  property  be  put 
up  at  auction,  the  minimum  price  being  fixed  at 
$225,000,  and  that  of  the  proceeds,  twenty-five  per 
cent,  should  go  to  the  city,  the  rest  to  the  church.  By 
this  arrangement  the  city  would  receive  at  least 
$56,250,  and  the  church  at  least  $168,750.  It  was 
thought,  however,  by  the  representatives  both  of  the 

*  For  this  and  other  details  to  follow  see  "  Board  of  Aldermen,  Docu- 
ment No.  37"  (1854). 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  265 

city  and  of  the  church,  that  the  property  would  bring 
at  least  $250,000,  and  probably  much  more. 

This  plan  in  its  entirety  was  accepted  by  the  trus- 
tees on  April  6th,  1853,*  who  even  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  confer  regarding  the  "time,  the  terms,  and 
conditions  of  site,"  but  although  the  Commissioners 
of  the  Sinking  Fund  and  afterward  the  Committee  on 
Finance  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  reported  favor- 
ably, no  final  action  was  taken  by  the  city  at  this 
time.  The  trustees,  disgusted  by  the  delay,  employed 
legal  counsel  to  aid  them,  and  even  secured  opinions 
on  the  subject  from  Judge  Bronson  and  Charles 
O'Connor.  They  attacked  the  city  authorities 
through  the  Comptroller  f  and  through  the  Mayor.  J 
They  even  considered  §  "the  expediency  of  institut- 
ing legal  proceedings  against  the  city  Corporation, 
with  a  view  to  asceitain  what  the  riirhts  of  this 
church  are  under  its  grant."  But,  although  they  were 
apparently  led  to  believe  that  the  city  would  at  some 
time  act  favorably  upon  the  matter,  no  action  could 
be  secured  until  1856. 

This  tedious  interval,  however,  had  not  all  been 
spent  by  the  trustees  in  a  state  of  discouragement. 
At  one  point  in  it  they  had  strong  reason  to  believe 
that  they  had  the  whole  matter  in  their  own  hands, 
that,  armed  with  the  Supreme  Court's  order,  they 
might  accomplish  a  sale  without  any  cooperation  of 
the  city  authorities  at  all.     The  circumstances  were 

*  Their  committee,  in  recommending  this,  gave  as  one  reason  "  the 
present  peculiar  condition  of  the  city  government."  Politics  in  New  York 
at  this  time  were  in  a  somewhat  confused  state.  Corruption  had  already 
infected  many  lower  officials.  Two  years  later  the  notorious  Fernando 
Wood  was  elected  Mayor. 

t  In  February,  1854.         J  In  January,  1855.        $  In  August,  1855. 


266  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

these.  In  September,  1854,  the  agents  of  the  United 
States  "advertised  for  proposals  for  the  purchase  of  a 
site  for  a  post-office  and  for  courts,  etc.,"  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  Here  was  the  very  chance  that 
the  church  needed,*  and  for  which  it  had  not  even 
dared  to  hope.  For  the  purposes  here  expressed  the 
church  had  full  legal  right  to  sell,  and  the  United 
States  Government  to  buy  and  use,  the  property  on 
Beekman  Street,  without  the  aid  or  consent  of  any 
other  party  whatsoever. 

The  trustees  very  quietly  went  to  work,  considering 
the  matter  from  every  point  of  view,  and  finally  send- 
ing a  committee  twice  to  Washington  to  confer  with 
the  proper  officials  there.  From  the  second  of  these 
two  visits  the  committee  returned,  feeling  that  the 
prospect  of  a  sale  was  favorable.  There  was,  indeed, 
a  difficulty  (was  there  not  always  a  difficulty  in  this 
struggle  to  dispose  of  the  church's  *' angular  lot".'^). 
Congress  had  so  left  the  matter,  that  it  was  a 
question  whether  the  President  could  act  without 
further  sanction.  Still  Mr.  Pierce,  who  was  at 
that  time  the  nation's  Chief  Executive,  and  with 
whom  the  church's  committee  had  conferred,  gave 
them  the  impression  that  he  considered  himself 
to  have  the  necessary  authority.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  the  Hon.  Robert  McClelland,  had  also 
received  the  church's  proposition  in  a  friendly  way; 
and  indeed  the  offer  was,  in  the  trustees'  opinion,  so 
highly  advantageous  to  the  Government,  that  they 
expected  every  ejffort  would  be  made  to  accept  it. 

They  had  offered  the  property  at  $300,000,  which 

*  For  a  curious  prophecy  of  this  proposal  fifteen  years  before,  see  above 
p.  2o4. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  267 

was  one-fourth  less  than  what  would  be  the  value,  it 
was  said,  were  there  no  restrictions,  the  reduction 
being  made  because  of  the  government's  being  ready 
to  use  the  land  for  purposes  not  prohibited  by  the 
original  grant,  so  that  the  city  need  not  be  consulted 
and  the  whole  sum  would  go  to  the  church.  If, 
moreover,  the  valuation  was  thought  to  be  too  high 
they  would  willingly  submit  that  matter  to  any  com- 
petent judges  for  revision.  They  asked  for  a  reply 
within  twenty  days  and  also  "that  unless  accepted 
and  the  contract  signed,  the  proposal  shall  not  be 
made  known  to  any  but  the  gentlemen  connected 
with  the  service  of  the  United  States,  whose  inter- 
ference may  be  deemed  useful  to  the  government." 

But  the  reader  knows,  of  course,  that  the  New  York 
Post-Office  was  never  built  on  the  church's  land. 
Within  the  twenty  days,  on  May  22d,  1855,  word 
was  received  "that  the  President,  after  mature  re- 
flection, had  concluded  that  it  would  be  of  doubtful 
propriety  to  take  any  action  in  the  matter  of  the  pur- 
chase of  the  Brick  Church  property  without  further 
sanction  of  Congress." 

This,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  state,  was  the  last  of  the 
many  disappointments  which  these  patient  church 
officers  were  called  upon  to  endure.  At  the  very 
meeting  when  the  declination  was  received  from 
Washington,  two  applications  for  the  purchase  of 
the  property  were  received  from  other  quarters. 
These  were  conditioned,  no  doubt,  upon  that  coop- 
eration of  the  city  which  had  been  so  long  delayed; 
but  still  there  was  distinct  encouragement  in  the 
knowledge  that  the  property  was  in  active  demand, 
and  that  pressure  would  now  be  exerted,  not  only  by 


268  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  sellers,  but  by  prospective  buyers,  to  have  the 
matter  speedily  settled.  The  trustees  had,  it  is  true, 
felt  all  along  that  their  property  possessed  an  assured 
value,  which  was  bound  to  be  realized  in  time — they 
had  even  trusted  so  far  in  this  assurance  as  to  open 
negotiations  already  for  new  land  uptown,  as  we  shall 
see  in  the  next  chapter — but  the  result  would  be 
doubly  and  trebly  welcome  if  it  could  come  at  once. 
In  January,  1856,  they  received  a  definite  offer  of 
$175,000,  for  their  rights  in  the  property,  but  they 
stood  out  for  $200,000.  And  three  months  later,  this 
course  was  justified,  when  their  figure  was  definitely 
accepted  by  Frederick  P.  James,  Edward  B.  Wesley, 
and  Henry  Keep,  who  became  the  purchasers,  for 
the  sum  named  above,  of  all  the  rights  of  the  Brick 
Church  in  the  property  which  it  had  occupied  for 
nearly  ninety  years.* 

♦The  contract  was  signed  on  April  11th,  and  the  deed  delivered  a 
month  later.  The  church  was  given  "  the  right  to  remove  from  the  church 
edifice  the  bell  and  furniture  and  fixtures  in  the  church"  and  also  "the 
right  to  remove  at  their  own  cost  the  remains  of  the  dead  contained  in  the 
vaults  and  in  said  ground."  The  church  was  to  receive  the  award  for 
damages  for  the  widening  of  Beekman  Street ;  but  agreed  to  pay  the  assess- 
ment for  the  same,  and  also  to  settle  the  claims  of  all  vault-owners  who 
should  not  have  been  previously  bought  out.  In  the  process  of  removing 
the  dead,  as  here  provided  for,  there  arose  the  "novel  and  interesting 
question,  Who  is  legally  entitled  to  the  custody  of  the  dead?"  In  order  to 
settle  this  point  a  friendly  suit  was  instituted.  The  remains  of  one  Moses 
Sherwood  (identified  "  by  the  ribbon,  by  which  his  hair  was  tied  in  a  queue, 
found  lying  with  his  skull  and  bones")  were  claimed  by  his  daughter,  al- 
though the  grave  in  which  he  had  been  buried  was  now  the  property  of  the 
church.  The  trustees  raised  no  objection,  but  desired  that  the  rights  in 
the  matter  should  be  legally  determined.  They  received  with  pleasure 
the  decision  of  Judge  Davies,  in  committing  the  dead  exclusively  to  the 
next  of  kin,  and  thanked  both  the  Judge  and  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Esq., 
who  had  "vindicated  the  rights  of  the  dead,"  for  the  achievement  of  a 
result  so  distinctly  in  accord  with  "Christian  sentiment,  taste  and  feeling." 
See  "An  Examination  of  the  Law  of  Burial,"  by  S.  B.  Ruggles. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  269 

This  sale  was  consummated,  "subject  to  the  pro- 
posal made  by  the  church  to  the  Corporation  to  sell 
said  property  at  auction,"  for  this  proposal  had  finally 
been  accepted  by  the  city,  and  the  auction  did  actually 
take  place  on  Wednesday,  May  14th,  at  twelve  o'clock 
noon,  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange.  In  this  the 
church,  of  course,  was  not  directly  interested.  It  had 
already  sold  its  rights  and  received  the  payment 
therefor  in  full.  Yet  the  trustees  could  not  but  regard 
with  interest  the  event  which,  in  accordance  with  the 
city's  agreement,  would  once  and  forever  wipe  out 
those  words  "private,  secular  uses,"  which  had  so 
long  chained  the  Brick  Church,  against  its  judgment, 
to  its  downtown  site. 

When  the  auction  took  place,  and  the  property  was 
sold  for  $270,000,  it  was  found  that  Messrs.  James, 
Wesley,  and  Keep  had  bought  it  in.*  It  was  reported 
that  the  only  bidder  against  them  was  Mr.  A.  T. 
Stewart.  As  is  well  known,  upon  the  ground  in 
question  were  afterward  erected  the  Potter  and 
Times  office  buildings. 

After  following  the  history  of  the  church  through 
these  trying  years,  the  reader  will  certainly  agree 
that  only  a  very  strong  organization,  sustained  by 
devoted  members,  could  have  withstood  the  effects 
of  such  a  prolonged  period  of  discouragement  and 
increasingly  adverse  conditions.  How  much  reserve 
strength  the  church  possessed,  and  how  soon 
that  strength  manifested  itself  in  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  old  work  in  a  new  field,  as  soon  as 
that  was  possible,  and  also  in  the  establishment 
of   new  work,  even    before   the   move   uptown   had 

*  The  property  therefore  cost  them  $267,500. 


270  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

been  fully  accomplished,   will   be  told  in  the  next 
chapter. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  a  large  element  in  this 
ability  of  the  church  to  outlive  such  a  long  wandering 
in  the  wilderness  was  the  devotion  of  all  the  people 
to  their  now  venerable  pastor.  A  very  convincing 
evidence  of  this,  and  at  the  same  time,  a  notable 
proof  of  the  fact  that  the  adverse  conditions  of  the 
years  between  1850  and  1856  had  not  exhausted 
the  financial  resources  of  the  congregation,  are  sup- 
plied by  the  fact  that  in  June,  1854,  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  period  of  discouragement,  Dr.  Spring's  salary 
was  increased  to  $5,000.*  In  voting  this,  the  trustees 
expressed  some  contrition  that  for  a  series  of  years 
their  pastor  had  been  receiving  a  salary  "below  the 
average  amount  paid  to  many  of  the  clergymen  of 
this  city."  But  that  this  delay  had  been  due  to  no  lack 
of  appreciation,  their  act  at  this  difficult  juncture, 
and  perhaps  still  more  the  words  of  unbounded  con- 
fidence and  love  by  which  it  was  accompanied,! 
proved  beyond  any  doubt. 

*  From  $3,250.    Cj.  p.  144. 

t  The  letter  which  conveyed  the  notice  of  the  increase  of  salary  was  as 
follows: 

New  York,  June  13th,  1854. 
Rev.  Dr.  Spring: — 

Dear  Sir:  The  undersigned  have  been  appointed  a  committee  to  com- 
municate to  you  the  accompanying  resolutions,  passed  unanimously  at  a 
meeting  of  the  congregation,  and  subsequently  in  like  manner  ratified  and 
confirmed  by  the  board  of  trustees. 

It  affords  us  great  pleasure  to  discharge  this  duty,  and  it  is  only  em- 
bittered with  the  regret  that  this  act  of  justice  has  been  so  long  delayed, 
much  of  which  delay  may  be  chargeable  to  our  own  negligence  or  forget- 
fulness,  not  to  use  a  harsher  name. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  on  this  occasion  but  one  senti- 
ment pervaded  the  entire  meeting;  not  the  slightest  dissent  was  mani- 
fested in  thought,  word,  or  deed.  It  was  the  spontaneous  expression  of 
grateful  feelings  from  full  and  thankful  hearts. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  S71 

On  Sunday  May  25th,  1856,  the  Brick  Church 
congregation  met  for  the  last  time  in  their  old  down- 
town church.  We  need  not  be  told  that,  in  how- 
ever remote  a  part  of  the  city  they  might  then  be 
living,  they  found  the  distance  no  bar  to  their  attend- 
ing on  that  memorable  and  affecting  occasion.  We 
are  even  sure  that  many  who  had  transferred  their 
membership  to  other  churches,  or  had  even  moved 

For  almost  half  a  century  you  have  occupied  the  same  post  and  the 
same  sphere  of  labor  and  of  duty.  Some  of  us  have  sat  under  your  min- 
istry for  more  than  forty  years,  and  during  that  long  period  can  bear  testi- 
mony to  your  untiring  industry,  your  unbending  integrity  in  the  exhibi- 
tion of  gospel  truth  amid  conflicts  and  parties,  and  your  entire  devotion  to 
the  appropriate  duties  of  the  ministry. 

We  feel,  too,  that  it  is  neither  flattery  to  you,  nor  vain  boasting  in  us, 
but  a  thankful  expression  of  gratitude  to  God,  to  say  that  yours  has  not 
been  an  unprofitable  ministry,  nor  [has]  your  influence  been  confined  to 
this  church.  We  can  see  traces  of  your  faithful  preaching,  marked  by  the 
divine  Spirit,  not  only  in  our  city  and  vicinity,  but  in  almost  every  State  of 
this  vast  republic;  and  we  expect,  if  we  are  ever  so  happy  as  to  arrive  at 
our  Father's  house  on  high,  to  meet  multitudes  there,  of  those  whom  nei- 
ther we  nor  you  have  known  in  the  flesh,  brought  home  to  glory  through 
your  instrumentality. 

It  is  a  source  of  delightful  reflection  to  us  that  in  the  early  evening  of 
your  days,  after  so  long  a  ministry  among  us,  you  retain  the  undimin- 
ished confidence  and  affection  of  your  whole  people,  an  affection  as  warm 
and  fresh  as  crowned  the  day  when  first  you  devoted  your  youthful  prime 
in  this  church  to  Christ  and  his  cause. 

Our  beloved  Pastor,  these  expressions  but  feebly  represent  our  own 
sincere  emotions.  We  would  humbly  commend  you  to  the  Great  Head  of 
the  Church,  and  earnestly  pray  that  he  may  preserve  you  yet  for  many 
years  to  come,  to  preach  the  everlasting  gospel  to  this  people;  that  he  may 
make  you  perfect,  stablish,  strengthen,  settle  you;  and  finally,  when  our 
warfare  is  accomplished,  that  he  may  receive  you  and  us  to  that  blessed 
communion  where  our  love  shall  be  forever  perfect,  and  our  joy  forever 
full. 

Respectfully  and  affectionately, 

Horace  Holden,  "] 

Samuel  Marsh,      I 

Moses  Allen,         }•  Committee. 

Ira  Bliss,  I 

Guy  Richards.      J 

Quoted  from  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  p.  32.  note. 


272  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

out  of  New  York,  were  found  in  the  pews  that  day, 
their  hearts  full  of  old  memories  wliich  made  it  good 
to  be  there.* 

We  may  leave  it  to  Dr.  Spring  himself  to  express 
the  emotions  which  characterized  that  last  meeting  in 
the  familiar  place,  and  to  interpret  its  significance. 
The  following  extracts  from  the  farewell  sermon  which 
he  that  day  delivered  f  will  fitly  bring  this  chapter  to 
its  conclusion. 

"The  present  service,"  he  began,  "closes  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  God  in  an  edifice  where  it  has  been  en- 
joyed for  eighty-eight  years.  For  whatever  purposes 
this  hallowed  ground  may  be  hereafter  employed,  ex- 
perience has  convinced  us  that  it  is  no  longer  a  fit 
place  for  religious  worship.  We  have  admitted  this 
conviction  reluctantly;  we  have  resisted  it  too  long. 
It  is  now  forced  upon  us  by  considerations  which  we 
have  no  doubt  God  approves,  and  the  best  interests  of 
his  kingdom  demand. 

"With  the  future,"  he  continues,  "we  have  less  to 
do  on  the  present  occasion,  than  the  past";  and  with 
this  introduction  he  proceeds  to  tell  briefly  that  his- 
tory which  has  already  been  told  with  greater  fulness 
in  the  preceding  pages  of  the  present  volume,  includ- 
ing an  account  of  the  discouragements  and  losses  of 
the  last  six  years.  One  detail  only  needs  to  be  added 
at  this  point.  "The  question  has  been  asked,"  says 
Dr.  Spring,  "Why  not  leave  this  church  as  a  church 
for  strangers,  and  for  the  hotels  and  boarding-houses 
in  this  part  of  the  city  ?    To  this  we  have  this  conclu- 

*  When  the  building  was  torn  down  many  were  seen  rescuing  "bricks" 
from  the  ruin,  and  one  of  these,  preserved  by  Mies  Sarah  Casper,  now  of 
Fort  Lee,  N.  J.,  is  to-day  among  the  church's  relics. 

t  The  text  was  Psalm  48  :  9-14. 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  273 

sive  answer,  We  ourselves  have  proposed  to  do  so. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  I  myself 
made  the  proposition  to  the  churches,  that  this  con- 
gregation would  subscribe  $50,000,  for  that  purpose, 
on  condition  that  the  other  congregations  would  unite 
in  raising  the  balance  of  $150,000.  The  Presbytery 
received  the  proposal  with  favor,  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  take  it  into  consideration.  That  com- 
mittee reported  against  the  proposed  arrangement, 
and  the  Presbytery  and  the  congregations  dropped 
the  subject. 

**And  now,"  says  Dr.  Spring,  after  he  has  com- 
pleted his  historical  survey,  *'in  this  brief  review, 
what  shall  we  say  ?  One  thought  forces  itself  upon 
your  minds  and  my  own.  It  relates  to  a  theme  on 
which  I  have  so  often  dwelt  in  this  sacred  desk:  The 
goodness  of  God,  how  wonderful  it  is !  The  rising  and 
setting  sun  proclaim  it,  and  every  star  of  the  dark 
night.  .  .  .  Every  sea,  every  lake  and  fountain, 
every  river  and  stream  and  sparkling  dew-drop,  re- 
ceive alike  their  riches  and  their  beauty  from  this  un- 
created source.  How  much  more  richly  and  purely, 
then,  does  it  flow  here  in  the  sanctuary,  where  all  its 
streams  are  confluent,  and  from  the  mountain  tops  of 
Zion  send  gladness  through  the  city  of  our  God.  .  .  . 

*'On  an  occasion  like  the  present  something  is  due 
to  this  ancient  sanctuary.  The  speaker  stands  here 
for  the  last  time;  and  you,  beloved  friends,  meet  for 
the  last  time  in  the  consecrated  place,  where  we  have 
so  often  assembled  for  the  worship  of  God.  .  .  .  We 
call  upon  you  to  witness,  we  call  upon  the  sacred 
spirits  of  the  departed  to  witness,  we  make  our  appeal 
to  the  walls  of  this  hallowed  edifice,  if  the  truth  of 


^74  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

God  .  .  .  has  not  been  proclaimed  from  this  pulpit. 
This  house  has  also  been  greatly  endeared  to  us  as 
'the  house  of  prayer,'  as  *the  house  of  prayer  for  all 
people.'  .  .  .  This  house  has  been  our  thankful  re- 
sort in  prosperity ;  in  adversity  it  has  been  our  refuge. 
Here  the  aged  and  the  young  have  come  for  the  first 
and  the  last  time  to  commemorate  the  love  of  Christ 
at  his  table.  Here  our  children  have  been  baptized, 
and  their  children  after  them,  and  here  we  have  wept 
and  prayed  together  as  God  has  called  them  from 
these  earthly  scenes.  ...  I  seem  to  stand  to-day 
amid  generations  that  are  past,  so  vividly  does  my 
imagination  people  these  seats  with  faces  and  forms 
whose  place  now  knows  them  no  more. 

"This  house  has  also  been  the  stranger's  home.  Of 
this  and  of  that  man  it  shall  one  day  be  said,  that '  he 
was  born  here.'  Many  a  wanderer  from  other  lands, 
and  more  from  distant  regions  of  our  own  broad  ter- 
ritory, have  here  sought  and  made  their  peace  with 
God.  *We  have  thought  of  thy  loving-kindness,  O 
God,  in  the  midst  of  thy  temple,'  that  *  we  may  tell  it 
to  the  generations  following.'  .  .  . 

"But  our  work  and  our  privileges  in  this  house  of 
God  here  have  an  end.  It  is  his  voice  which  to-day 
says  to  us,  '  Arise  ye,  and  depart  hence,  for  this  is  not 
your  rest.'  We  have  occupied  it  too  long;  and,  al- 
though it  has  been  for  the  benefit  and  enlargement  of 
other  congregations,  it  has  been  not  only  to  the  dimi- 
nution of  our  strength,  but  to  the  injury  of  our  habits 
as  a  people.  .  .  . 

"We  have  been  a  harmonious  people  for  six  and 
forty  years;  and  we  are  now  harmonious  in  this  great 
and    agitating    question.  .  .  .  We    bid    [this    house] 


ON  BEEKMAN  STREET  ^75 

adieu,  to  follow  the  guidance  of  [God's]  providence, 
and  pitch  our  tabernacle  under  the  pillar  and  the 
cloud.  .  .  .  Farewell,  then,  thou  endeared  house  of 
God!  Thou  companion  and  friend  of  my  youth, 
thou  comforter  of  my  later  years,  thou  scene  of  toil 
and  of  repose,  of  apprehension  and  of  hope,  of  sorrow 
and  of  joy,  of  man's  infirmity  and  of  God's  omnipo- 
tent grace,  farewell !  * 

"But  not  to  thee,  O  thou  that  hearest  prayer  .  .  . 
do  we  say  farewell.  .  .  Even  now,  at  this  late,  this 
last  hour,  from  the  bottom  of  our  hearts  do  we  say, 
*If  thy  presence  go  not  with  us,  carry  us  not  up 
hence.'  .  .  .  Nor,  my  beloved  people,  is  it  to  you 
that  your  pastor  says  farewell.  These  brick  walls 
and  this  plastered  ceiling,  and  these  pillars  and  seats, 
do  not  constitute  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church. 
Ye  are  these  constituents,  and  *ye  are  our  glory  and 

joy.'  ... 

"These  days  of  solicitude  and  agitation  will  soon 
be  over.  *The  root  of  Jesse'  yet  stands  as  an  *  en- 
sign to  the  people,  and  his  rest  shall  be  glorious.' 

*  In  "Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated  Newspaper,"  for  May  10th,  1856,  ap- 
peared pictures  of  both  the  exterior  and  interior  of  the  church.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  part  of  the  accompanying  text:  "It  is  probable  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks  the  Old  Brick  Church  in  Beekman  Street,  known  for 
80  many  years  as  'Dr.  Spring's'  will  be  torn  down  to  make  way  for  'mod- 
ern improvements.'  It  is  thus  that  one  old  landmark  after  another  disap- 
pears, and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  'old  fogies'  will  not  find  a  fa- 
miliar wrinkle  upon  the  entire  face  of  New  York.  .  .  .  Our  engravings 
make  any  allusion  to  the  architecture  of  the  building  and  its  interior  un- 
necessary. Suffice  it  to  say  that,  with  all  our  wealth  and  extravagance,  but 
little  advance  has  been  made  upon  the  real  beauty  and  picturesque  effect 
of  the  old  churches,  built  when  New  York  had  but  little  wealth,  and  was 
really  but  a  country  village.  Embalmed  in  our  columns,  the  antiquarian 
will,  in  future  times,  turn  to  them  with  pleasure,  and  learn  what  was  the 
appearance  of  the  Old  Brick  Church  before  it  gave  way  to  the  wants  of  our 
ever-increasing  population." 


276  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Only  take  diligent  heed  and  be  very  courageous  to  do 
his  will,  to  love  the  Lord  your  God,  and  to  walk  in 
his  ways,  and  to  keep  his  commandments,  and  to 
cleave  unto  him,  and  to  serve  him  with  all  your  heart 
and  all  your  soul,  and  his  presence  and  blessing  shall 
be  with  you  and  yours  for  a  great  while  to  come.  The 
Lord  bless  you  and  keep  you ;  the  Lord  cause  his  face 
to  shine  upon  you,  and  be  gracious  unto  you;  the 
Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  you,  and  give  you 
peace.  His  name  be  upon  you  and  your  children. 
Amen  and  Amen.  And  let  all  the  people  say, 
Amen."  * 

*  "Br.  Ch.  Mem.,"  pp.  7-42. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   MOVE   TO   MURRAY   HILL:   1855-1858 

"  So  David  and  all  the  house  of  Israel  brought  up  the  ark  of  the  Lord  with  shout- 
ing, and  with  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  .  .  .  And  they  brought  in  the  ark  of 
the  Lord,  and  set  it  in  his  place,  in  the  midst  of  the  tabernacle  that  David  had 
pitched  for  it." — 2  Saimicl  6  :  15,  17. 

"  We  have  lived  to  see  the  top  stone  of  this  edifice  laid,  and  its  doors  open  to  us. 
We  have  nothing  to  ask  in  the  external  and  material  arrangements  of  this  hou.se. 
It  is  not  a  gorgeous  edifice;  it  has  no  decorated  walls  and  arches,  and  no  splendid 
magnificence.  Yet  there  are  stability  and  comfort  and  tasteful  architecture,  which 
do  honor  to  the  genius  and  fidelity  of  those  employed  in  projecting,  erecting,  and 
embellishing  it.  ' Straigth  and  beauty  are  in  his  sanctuary.'" — Gardiner  Spring, 
1858,  "The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  p.  71. 

A  PERIOD  of  fifty  years  in  the  life  of  a  city 
does  not  seem  very  long,  but  when  we  realize 
the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  New 
York  in  the  last  half  century,  we  cannot  but  realize 
that,  counted  by  results,  it  may  be  a  very  long  time 
indeed.  It  is,  in  truth,  hard  to  picture  to  ourselves 
the  city  that  existed  on  Manhattan  Island  in  1855, 
when  the  Brick  Church  first  definitely  began  to  look 
at  new  sites.  One  is  almost  inclined  to  doubt  that 
Thirty-fourth  Street,  which  to-day  is  fast  becoming 
the  centre  of  the  retail  shopping  district,  was  then  al- 
most at  the  northern  limit  of  the  built-up  part  of  the 
city,  with  open  fields  beyond,  and  indeed  many  unoc- 
cupied spaces  below  it;  but  such  was,  indeed,  the  fact. 
An  extract  from  some  unpublished  reminiscences 
of  New  York  in  the  forties  and  fifties  *  will  serve  to 

*  By  the  author's  mother. 

277 


278  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

introduce  us  to  the  conditions  then  existing  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  present  Brick  Church.  In  1848, 
we  are  told,  the  last  houses  on  Madison  Avenue  were 
just  above  Twenty-seventh  Street.  "A  grove  of  trees 
was  where  the  next  block  now  is,  and  nothing  ob- 
structed the  view  from  our  windows,  so  that  we  could 
see  as  far  as  Hoboken.  ...  I  could  roll  my  hoople 
before  breakfast  to  the  end  of  Madison  Avenue, 
which  stopped  at  Forty-second  Street."  One  de- 
tail of  the  life  of  the  city  at  that  time  I  venture 
to  add  from  the  same  source.  It  goes  far  toward 
showing  how  different  conditions  then  were  from 
those  with  which  we  are  now  familiar.  "I  walked 
generally  to  school  and  back.  If  I  rode,  it  was  by 
stage.  They  were  white  stages,  filled  with  straw  for 
your  feet,  and  with  cornucopias  containing  flowers 
painted  on  the  sides.  After  a  heavy  fall  of  snow 
there  would  be  stage-sleighs,  and  there  was  enough 
snow  then  to  give  us  fine  sleigh-rides.  The  traffic 
was  nothing,  compared  to  to-day.  I  remember  that 
we  knew  generally  to  whom  the  private  carriages  be- 
longed, usually  from  the  coachman,  who  stopped  long 
enough  on  the  box  in  those  days  to  impress  his  feat- 
ures on  the  rising  generation."  Street  railways  were, 
in  certain  parts  of  the  city,  beginning  to  make  their 
appearance,  but  they  were  as  yet  very  far  from  being 
the  typical  mode  of  conveyance.  In  1856,  as  another 
writer  tells  us,  '*the  slow  stage  still  travelled  its  weary 
way  along  Wall  Street  and  Broadway."  * 

The  fashionable  quarters  of  the  city  were  then 
Broad  Street,  Washington  Square,  East  Broadway, 
St.  John's  Park  and  Second  Avenue,  while  Chelsea 

*  "Memorial  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  447. 


THK    HKICK   CHIUCH    ON    MIKKAV    HII.L 
Taken  in  March,  1908 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      279 

was  regarded  as  a  very  select  neighborhood.*  Some 
"splendid  ranges  of  private  residences"  f  had  been 
built  on  lower  Fifth  Avenue,  and  a  very  few,  like  out- 
posts of  the  advancing  city,  had  even  reached  as  far 
north  as  Murray  Hill.  "The  wealthy  Dr.  Town- 
send,"  for  instance,  had  erected  at  the  corner  of 
Fifth  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  Street  a  mansion  of 
"almost  royal  splendor,"  as  contemporary  observ- 
ers described  it.  The  curious  public  were  admitted 
by  ticket,  we  are  told,  the  proceeds  being  devoted  to 
the  Five  Points  Mission. |  A  new  fashion  in  domes- 
tic architecture,  by  the  way,  had  just  invaded  New 
York  at  this  time.  Houses  of  red  brick  and  built  in 
the  London  style,  such  as  were  then  to  be  seen  on 
Broadway  and  may  still  be  seen  on  the  north  side  of 
Washington  Square,  were  being  replaced  by  the 
brownstone,  high-stoop  structures,  §  which  for  many 
years  became  almost  universal  throughout  the  city, 
and  which  went  far  toward  making  New  York,  in  the 
day  of  their  ascendancy,  one  of  the  homeliest  cities 
on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

This  sketch  of  the  conditions  which  existed,  when  the 
trustees  of  the  Brick  Church  began  to  look  for  their 
new  site,  will  help  us  to  appreciate  what  it  really 
meant  for  the  church  to  "move  uptown."  We  soon 
discover  that  in  order  to  build  for  the  future  rather 
than  for  the  fleeting  present,  the  church  proposed  to 
move  practically  out  into  the  country.  This  was  cer- 
tainly a  bold  plan,  but  no  less  certainly  it  was  a  pro- 
foundly wise  one. 

*  The  region  about  Ninth  Avenue  and  Twentieth  Street. 

t  "Putnam's  Magazine,"  March,  1854. 

X  "Leslie's  Hist,  of  Greater  N.  Y.,"  by  Daniel  Van  Pelt,  Vol.  I,  p.  344. 

$  "Memorial  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  447. 


280  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

The  trustees  took  their  first  definite  step  toward 
securing  new  land  at  the  time  when  the  sale  of  the 
old  site  to  the  United  States  Government  still  seemed 
a  possibility.  And,  indeed,  they  almost  bought,  in 
April,  1855,  a  plot  of  ground  on  the  south-east  corner 
of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Thirtieth  Street.*  It  was  only 
the  discovery  of  a  possible  defect  in  the  title  that 
prevented  the  purchase  from  being  made. 

No  further  steps  were  taken  in  this  matter  until 
April,  1856,  when  the  old  property  had  finally  been 
sold.  Then  preparations  were  made  to  proceed  at 
once.  To  a  committee  of  two,  consisting  of  Paul 
Spofford  and  Shepherd  Knapp,  the  task  was  en- 
trusted, and  for  their  guidance  it  was  formally  voted 
that  the  site  selected  should  be  somewhere  between 
Twenty-third  and  Forty-second  streets,  and  between 
Sixth  and  Madison  avenues.  A  week  later  the  com- 
mittee made  its  first  recommendation.  Of  all  the 
sites  examined  by  them  within  the  prescribed  .area 
they  favored  one  on  the  north-east  corner  of  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Thirty-sixth  Street. f  They  also  men- 
tioned verbally  that  a  piece  of  land  on  Twenty-third 
Street,  belonging  to  Mr.  Amos  R.  Eno,  and  held  at 
$72,000,  was  available,  but  they  did  not  recommend 
it. 

The  trustees,  however,  "after  mature  deliberation 
and  discussion,"  decided  upon  Mr.  Eno's  land,J  and 
the  committee,  although  they  were  unconvinced,  and 
although  Mr.   Knapp  requested  that  "his  decided 

*  It  measured  96  feet  on  the  avenue,  by  175  on  the  side  street.  The 
price  was  $58,000. 

t  It  contained  eight  city  lots  and  was  held  at  $60,000. 

t  It  consisted  of  100  feet  "east  of  Mr.  Arnold's  house"  on  Twenty- 
third  Street,  and  extending  through  to  Twenty-fourth. 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      281 

choice"  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Street  site  be  noted  in  the 
minutes,  consented  to  make  the  vote  unanimous. 
A  month  later  an  irreconcilable  difference  as  to  cer- 
tain conditions  of  the  sale  arose  between  Mr.  Eno 
and  the  trustees,  with  the  result  that  they  ceased  to 
negotiate.  The  majority  of  the  board,  however,  sbill 
favored  Twenty-third  Street  as  the  most  suitable 
location  for  the  church. 

It  is  interesting  that  in  spite  of  this  expressed  pref- 
erence of  the  board,  the  committee  on  the  new  site, 
had  so  far  the  courage  of  their  convictions  as  to 
report  at  the  next  meeting  Murray  Hill  sites  only; 
and  what  was  more,  they  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
majority  to  their  views.  Before  they  rose  from  this 
meeting  the  trustees  had  voted  unanimously  that  the 
committee  "be  directed  to  purchase  one  of  three  plots 
of  ground  reported  by  the  committee,  and  that  the 
north-west  corner  of  Thirty-seventh  Street  and  Fifth 
Avenue  have  the  preference,  and  the  corner  of  Thirty- 
sixth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue  have  the  second  pref- 
erence, and  the  corner  of  Thirty-eighth  Street  and 
Fifth  Avenue,  west  side,  have  the  third  preference." 
Six  days  later,  on  September  15th,  1856,  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  the  first  choice  had  been  actually 
bought  *  for  $58,000.  This,  it  will  be  observed,  was 
$14,000,  less  than  had  been  asked  for  the  Twenty- 
third  Street  property. 

The  newly  acquired  land,  upon  which  the  present 
Brick  Church  was  to  be  erected,  measures  ninety- 
eight  feet,  nine  inches  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  feet  on  Thirty-seventh  Street, 
and  the  purchase  included  "all  the  stone,  brick,  lime, 

*  From  Mr.  U.  Hendricks. 


282  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  cement  that  are  now  on  and  in  front  of  said 
lots." 

The  property,  as  this  added  clause  suggests,  had 
been  previously  occupied.    In  about  1845,  Mr.  Cov- 
entry Waddell,  who,  we  are  told,  had  held  for  a  long 
time  a  confidential  position  in  the  State  Department 
at  Washington,  had  here  built  himself  a  residence  of 
*' yellowish  gray"  stucco  with  brownstone  trimmings. 
It  was  in  the  Gothic  style  and  was  regarded  as  a 
handsome  specimen  of  domestic  architecture.     The 
following  account  of  it  is  taken  from  Lamb's  "  History 
of  the  City  of  New  York."  *    Mr.  Waddell's  man- 
sion "  was  a  famous  social  centre,  although  at  the  pe- 
riod of  its  erection   Fifth   Avenue   above    Madison 
Square  was  little  more  than  a  common  road,  and  the 
old  farm  fences  were  visible  on  all  sides.   .  .  .  The 
place,  when  improved,  was  called  a  suburban  villa; 
its  grounds,  beautified  with  taste,  covered  the  whole 
square    between    Thirty-seventh    and    Thirty-eighth 
streets.  .  .  .  When  Fifth  Avenue  was   graded,  the 
edifice  was  rendered  still  more  imposing  and  pictur- 
esque by  its  elevated  position."   A  writer  in  *'  Putnam's 
Monthly,"  March,  1854,  gives  a  contemporary  descrip- 
tion:  "It  is  remarkable  for  being  enclosed  in  its  own 
garden  ground,  as  high  as  the  original  level  of  the 
island,  and  descends  by  sloping  grass  banks  to  the 
street.     There  is  also  a  Gothic  cottage-lodge  on  the 
north  side  of  the  garden,  of  which  and  of  the  whole 
ground,  a  fine  view  is  obtained  from  the  terrace  of 
the  Croton  Reservoir."     The  house,  we  are  also  told, 
"was  finished   in  a  style   of  costly  elegance,  and  a 
large  conservatory  and  picture-gallery  were  among  its 

*  Vol.  II,  pp.  756/. 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      283 

attractions.  From  its  broad  marble  hall  a  winding 
staircase  led  to  the  tower,  from  which  a  charming 
view  was  obtained  of  both  the  East  and  Hudson 
rivers,  the  intervening  semi-rural  landscape,  and  the 
approaching  city.  It  was  the  scene  of  many  notable 
entertainments,  Mrs.  Waddell  being  a  leader  of 
society."  * 

There  is  probably  no  district  in  New  York  to-day 
whose  character  exactly  corresponds  with  that  of 
Murray  Hill  in  the  years  while  the  Brick  Church  was 
building,  1856  to  1858.  To-day  one  must  travel  out 
into  the  more  distant  suburban  towns  in  order  to  see 
an  entire  community  of  the  better  sort  coming  into 
existence  all  at  one  time,  the  homes  and  churches  of 
the  well-to-do,  with  schools  for  their  children,  all  go- 
ing up  together.  Where,  on  the  ''frontier"  of  the 
city  itself,  new  regions  are  now  suddenly  developing 
amid  open  fields,  the  buildings  are  usually  of  an  in- 
ferior sort.  The  wealthy  residents  of  New  York  in 
our  day  have  ceased  to  be  pioneers.  But  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  Murray  Hill  was 
suddenly  seized  upon  and  developed  by  people  of  posi- 
tion and  means,  who  there  set  about  the  transforma- 
tion of  a  region  of  almost  open  country  with  scattered 
suburban  residences,  into  a  district  of  city  streets, 
with  costly  houses  built  in  solid  blocks.  Dr.  Town- 
send's  somewhat  pretentious  house,  which  had  been 
erected  in  1855,  and  which  stood  two  blocks  below  the 
site  of  the  church,  has  already  been  mentioned.  In 
1857  and  1858  houses  were  going  up  to  the  west  of 
the  church  site  on  Thirty-seventh  Street  and  imme- 
diately north  of  it  on  the  avenue.     The  building  of 

"Lamb's  "History."     See  above. 


284  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  church  itself  was,  of  course,  a  most  important  fac- 
tor in  these  operations,  for  it  helped  greatly  to  fix  the 
character  of  the  neighborhood  and  to  attract  as 
residents  the  most  desirable  class  of  people. 

Even  before  the  site  for  the  church  had  been  se- 
cured, the  trustees  had  begun  to  consider  in  a  general 
way,  the  plans  for  their  new  building,  but  when 
Thirty-seventh  Street  was  finally  determined  upon, 
they  began  in  earnest.  A  committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Spofford,  Knapp,  and  Holden  of  the  trustees, 
and  Mr.  John  M.  Nixon,  representing  the  congrega- 
tion, presented  tentative  plans  for  the  new  church 
and  lecture  room  in  November,  1856.  It  seems  to 
have  been  agreed  by  all,  from  the  beginning,  that  in 
its  shape  and  in  the  general  arrangement  of  its  pews 
the  new  building  should  resemble  the  old  one,  and 
especially  that,  while  each  pew  might  well  be  made 
more  commodious  and  the  aisles  increased  in  width, 
the  seating  capacity  should  not  be  enlarged.  ""No 
church  [to  be  under  the  charge  of  one  pastor],"  it  was 
said,  *' should  contain  a  greater  number  of  pews" 
than  did  the  old  place  of  worship  on  Beekman 
Street. 

In  regard,  however,  to  several  other  important 
matters,  there  was  some  uncertainty.  It  was  first 
proposed,  for  instance,  that  the  lecture  room  should 
be  under  the  church,  but  fortunately  it  was  at  length 
decided  that  a  chapel  should  be  erected  in  the  rear  of 
the  main  building,  although  it  was  feared  that  this 
would  add  $10,000  to  the  cost.  Another  important 
question  related  to  the  placing  of  the  pipe  organ; 
for  it  had  been  determined  that  the  violoncello  should 
no  longer  supply  the  church's  music.     This  innova- 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      285 

tion,  which  the  trustees  had  early  made  a  part  of  their 
plans,  was,  it  is  interesting  to  know,  heartily  desired 
by  the  congregation  and  by  the  session,  "in  the 
hope,"  as  they  said,  "of  adding  interest  to  the  public 
worship  of  the  sanctuary."  *  The  debated  question 
in  regard  to  the  organ,  therefore,  was  not  whether 
there  should  be  one,  but  where  it  should  be  placed, 
some  favoring  the  front  of  the  church  above 
the  entrance,  and  others  the  west  end  behind  the 
pulpit. 

The  architect  employed  for  the  preliminary  work 
was  Mr.  Leopold  Eidlitz,  but  after  February,  1857, 
the  work  was  in  the  hands  of  the  firm  of  T.  Thomas 
and  Son,f  to  whom  doubtless  the  final  plans,  from 
which  the  church  was  built,  should  be  altogether 
attributed.  Several  months  were  spent  in  this  all- 
important  work  of  preparation,  and  then,  in  the 
summer  of  1857,  the  walls  began  to  rise. 

They  were  built  of  two  materials.  The  first  was, 
of  course,  that  which  tradition  and  the  church's  name 
prescribed:  it  was  still  to  be  the  "Brick"  Church. 
But  in  deference  to  the  accepted  fashion  of  that  par- 
ticular time,  referred  to  a  few  pages  back,  the  base, 
the  trimmings,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  steeple, 
whose  strong  and  graceful  lines  have  made  it  ever 

♦  The  session  at  this  time  were  aroused  to  an  increased  interest  in  the 
music  of  the  church.  Possibly  they  felt  that  the  trustees  had  too  entire 
control  of  it.  At  any  rate,  mindful  of  "the  sacred  privilege  and  the  appro- 
priate duty  of  the  session  to  conduct  that  part  of  public  worship  which 
consists  in  praise  to  Almighty  God,"  they  now  appointed  a  special  com- 
mittee for  this  purpose.  The  committee's  first  task  was  to  secure  an 
organist,  who  was  to  receive  a  salary  of  $500  a  year. 

t  On  May  18th,  1858,  and  from  that  time  on,  the  architect's  fees  were 
paid  to  Mr.  Griffith  Thomas,  who  is  subsequently  referred  to  as  "the  archi- 
tect of  the  church." 


^86  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

since  one  of  New  York's  noblest  architectural  monu- 
ments, were  of  brownstone.  *  The  tower,  from  which 
the  steeple  rose,  contained  the  old  Beekman  Street 
bell  and  a  clock,  f  whose  four  faces  told  the  time  to 
the  whole  neighborhood.  There  were  three  main 
entrances  to  the  building  from  Fifth  Avenue,  and 
high  windows  lighted  the  church,  the  vestibule,  and 
the  chapel,  on  either  side.  The  style  chosen  for  the 
architectural  details  was  the  somewhat  late  classic, 
and  the  design  as  a  whole  was  simple  and  dignified. 
On  both  street  and  avenue  the  church  was  surrounded 
by  a  high  iron  fence  with  lamp-posts  at  the  entrance 
gates.  In  short,  without  continuing  further  this 
description,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  except  for  the 
stained  glass  in  the  windows  and  the  vine  which  now 
covers  the  entire  south  wall  and  is  making  its  way 
across  the  front,  the  exterior  at  the  present  day  tells 
us  precisely  how  it  looked  at  the  time  of  its  erec- 
tion. J 

The  same  thing  cannot  be  said  of  the  inside  of  the 
building.  The  plaster  walls  were  then  almost  white 
in  color,  and  divided  into  rectangles  to  give  the 
effect  of  courses  of  stone.  The  windows,  filled  with 
plain  glass,  were  fitted  with  great  folding  shutters,"^ 

*  The  tendency  to  scale  off  which  this  stone  developed  in  the  moist 
climate  of  New  York,  has  caused  the  repair  of  the  steeple  from  time  to 
time  to  be  a  very  troublesome  and  costly  operation. 

t  The  clock  was  ordered  while  the  church  was  building,  but  it  did  not 
arrive  until  after  the  dedication.  The  gossip  of  the  time  gave  out  that, 
when  installed,  it  would  have  "illuminated  dials."  See  "The  Presby- 
terian," November  6th,  1858. 

I  In  March,  1908,  new  clock  faces  of  glass  replaced  the  original  wooden 
ones,  of  which  one  was  blown  down  in  a  strong  wind  in  the  preceding  fall. 

§  The  writer  well  remembers  with  what  interest,  as  a  boy,  he  would 
watch  the  sexton  manipulate  them,  if  by  some  good  fortune  they  needed 
readjustment  during  service. 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      m 

while  the  ceiling,  now  so  richly  adorned,  was  then  a 
perfectly  plain  white  surface.  Yet  it  is  interesting  to 
observe  that  those  features  of  the  newly  completed 
interior  which  were  selected  for  special  mention  by 
a  contemporary  journal  *  a  week  after  the  building 
was  first  opened  to  the  public,  are,  with  one  exception, 
to  be  seen  in  the  church  to-day.  The  "Scagliola  col- 
umns" still  support  the  half  dome  of  the  apse  behind 
the  pulpit.f  The  floors  of  the  vestibule,  "laid 
with  marble,"  have  withstood  admirably  the  tread 
of  almost  two  generations  (though  at  the  pres- 
ent day  of  costly  buildings  their  material  would 
hardly  be  deemed  worthy  of  any  special  admira- 
tion). The  stairways  to  the  galleries  are  still  of 
the  same  "solid  oak,"  of  which  they  were  con- 
structed in  the  beginning,  and  we  hope  that  those 
who  climb  them  still  find  that  they  "are  of  easy 
ascent." 

The  one  exception  referred  to  a  moment  ago  was 
perhaps  the  most  magnificent  object  of  which  the  new 
church  could  boast,  the  sole  extravagance,  one  might 
say,  in  which  the  trustees  had  indulged.  It  was  a 
huge  brass  chandelier  of  a  hundred  lights,  which  hung 
from  the  centre  of  the  ceiling,  and,  except  for  a  few 
single  brackets  under  the  gallery  and  two  lamp- 
stands  in  the  pulpit,  lighted  the  entire  church.  It 
cost  no  less  than  $1,300.  Its  place  now  knows  it  no 
more.  Long  ago,  no  doubt,  it  was  broken  up  and  sold 
for  old  metal,  but  it  was  greatly  admired  when  the 

*  "The  Presbyterian,"  November  6th,  1858. 

t  Their  position,  however,  was  shghtly  changed  a  few  years  after  the 
church  was  built.  Originally  the  six  columns  were  all  at  equal  distances 
from  one  another.  The  reason  for  the  change  will  be  explained  at  the 
proper  place. 


288  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

new  church  was  first  opened  and  for  many  a  year 
after. 

Three  other  features  of  the  church  need  to  be  men- 
tioned before  the  reader  will  be  able  adequately  to 
picture  to  himself  the  original  interior.  First,  the 
pews  were  painted  white  or  cream-color  and  had 
the  same  mahogany  trimmings  that  exist  to-day, 
though  now  almost  overlooked  amid  the  generally 
dark  tones  that  prevail.  Secondly,  the  organ-loft  had 
been  placed  at  the  west  end,  above  and  behind  the 
pulpit.  The  marble  columns  in  those  days  stood 
free,  and  through  the  openings  between  them  one 
could  look  into  the  gallery,  where  the  organ  *  had 
been  erected,  and  from  which  the  chorister  led  the  con- 
gregation in  the  singing.  Finally,  as  many  people  of 
the  present  day  will  remember,  there  were,  in  the 
east  wall  of  the  interior,  over  the  central  door,  three 
niches.  It  was  originally  intended  that  all  of  these 
should  be  used,  as  the  following  action  of  the  trustees 
informs  us.  At  a  meeting  held  the  day  before  the 
church  was  dedicated,  they  resolved  "that  whenever 
the  lady  friends  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring  shall  procure 
a  bust  of  his  person,  in  bronze  or  marble,  semi-co- 
lossal in  size,  and  executed  with  artistic  skill,  the  cen- 
tral niche  in  the  inner  front  wall  of  the  new  Brick 
Church  be,  and  is  hereby  appointed,  to  its  reception, 
and  the  side  niches  to  urns  or  vases  as  shall  most 
appropriately  embellish  the  same."  The  embellish- 
ing urns  or  vases  were  never  introduced,  and  the  bust 
of  Dr.  Spring  did  not  take  its  place  in  the  centre 
until  after  his  death. 

If  the   interior   of  1858,  with  its  light  color  and 

*  The  organ  was  built  by  Mr.  Richard  Montgomery  Ferris,  for  $2,300. 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      289 

severe  simplicity,  would  seem  strange  to  persons 
familiar  with  its  present  appearance,  it  seemed  no 
less  strange  to  the  members  of  the  old  Brick  Church, 
when  they  first  entered  it,  for,  aside  from  the  most 
general  resemblances  to  the  older  building  in  shape 
and  arrangement,  there  were  but  two  familiar  objects 
in  the  whole  church.  As  they  came  in  at  the  central 
door  they  could  see,  on  the  left-hand  wall  of  the  ves- 
tibule, the  old  dedicatory  tablet  of  black  stone  which 
had  been  removed  to  this  place  from  the  front  of  the 
downtown  building,  a  visible  memorial  of  the  ''Pres- 
byterian Church  erected  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1767,"  *  and  when  after  entering  the  church  itself, 
they  had  taken  their  seats  and  begun  to  look  about 
them,  there,  in  its  familiar  place,  high  on  the  wall 
above  the  pulpit,  was  the  old  white  shield  with  its 
gilt  letters,  beloved  by  all  the  Brick  Church  people, 
still  proclaiming  that  this  house  was  "Holiness  to  the 
Lord."  t 


*  Opposite,  on  the  right-hand  wall  was  (and  is)  another  tablet  of  the 
same  style  and  material,  bearing  the  inscription: 

THIS  EDIFICE 

ERECTED 

In  the  Year  of  Our  Lord 

1858. 

t  See  p.  133.  Some  other  facts,  which  should  not  be  altogether 
omitted  may  here  be  set  down  indiscriminately.  At  the  west  end  of  the 
church  there  were,  on  each  side,  above  the  entrances  to  the  side  galleries 
and  just  below  the  cornice,  two  smaller  galleries  which  have  been  de- 
scribed as  "the  slave  galleries,"  but  they  could  hardly  have  been  put  to 
such  a  use  in  New  York  in  1858.  They  are  now  bricked  up,  so  that  they 
are  no  longer  visible  from  the  church,  but  the  spaces  still  exist,  and  in  one 
of  them  the  old  seats  remained  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  room  was 
fitted  up  as  a  robing-room  for  the  choir.    The  pulpit  of  the  church  in  1858 


290  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

When  the  church  was  complete,  and  ready  for 
occupancy,  one  deHcate  problem  still  remained  to  be 
solved.  Those  who  had  owned  pews  in  the  old 
building  must  in  some  just  manner  have  their  rights 
transferred  to  the  new.  At  first  it  was  hoped  that  in 
planning  the  uptown  church  the  plan  of  pews  might 
be  made  identical  with  that  on  Beekman  Street,  and 
the  rights  of  the  pew-owners  simply  transferred  to 
new  pews,  exactly  corresponding  with  the  old  ones. 
This,  however,  proved  to  be  impracticable,  and  a 
more  complicated  method  was  adopted.  First, 
$140,000,  a  figure  somewhat  arbitrarily  fixed  upon 
as  the  value  of  the  pews  in  the  old  church,  was  ap- 
portioned among  the  said  pews  according  to  their 
size  and  location,  and  scrip  for  the  proper  amounts 
was  issued  to  the  owners.  Second,  minimum  prices 
were  assigned  to  the  pews  on  Murray  Hill.*  And, 
third,  the  pews  were  put  up  at  auction  "  in  order,"  as 
the  trustees  somewhat  naively  remarked,  "to  give 


was  furnished  with  an  enormous  sofa  and  two  equally  enormous  arm- 
chairs. The  coverings  of  these,  and  of  the  cushion  on  which  the  Bible 
rested,  together  with  the  valance  which  surrounded  the  marble-topped 
communion  table,  were  of  brilliant  red  damask.  The  carpet  also,  I  believe 
was  red.  The  chapel  (and  this  name,  by  the  way,  was  applied  to  the 
entire  building  in  the  rear  of  the  church)  contained  on  the  first  floor  the 
lecture  room,  fitted  up  with  pews  like  a  little  church.  The  square  entrance 
hall  was  then  open  all  the  way  up  to  the  roof.  On  the  second  story  were  the 
pastor's  study  or  "library,"  and  the  Sunday-school  room.  It  had  been 
proposed  to  place  the  Sunday-school  in  the  basement,  and  possibly  this 
was  done  for  a  time.  The  entire  building,  church  and  chapel  together, 
cost  about  $150,000.  (This  was  $25,000,  more  than  had  been  expected  at 
the  outset.)  The  furniture  and  carpets  had  cost  nearly  $5,000.  Including 
the  land,  therefore,  the  trustees  had  paid  out  about  $213,000.  The  pro- 
ceeds from  the  sale  of  the  old  site,  with  interest,  provided  203,000,  so 
that  $10,000,  had  to  be  borrowed.  Other  needs  increased  this  loan  to 
$15,000. 

*  The  prices  ranged  from  $150  to  $1,500. 


THE  MOVE  TO  MURRAY  HILL      291 

every  person  an  opportunity  to  locate  according  to 
his  wishes."  Before  this  plan  had  been  entirely  car- 
ried out,  however,  the  church  had  been  opened  for 
public  worship. 

And  happy  must  the  people  have  been  as  the  time 
approached  when  they  would  once  more  have  a 
church  of  their  own.  For  more  than  two  years  they 
had  been  using  Hope  Chapel,  maintaining  there,  as 
well  as  they  could,  their  church  life.  *  And,  indeed 
they  had  succeeded  nobly.  This  is  suflBciently  in- 
dicated by  the  mention  of  a  single  fact,  namely,  that 
it  was  at  this  very  juncture,  while  they  were  strug- 
gling to  reestablish  their  own  organization  on  a  new 
basis,  that  they  found  time  and  energy  to  go  outside 
of  their  own  immediate  interests,  in  order  to  inaug- 
urate another  work  of  the  utmost  importance.  This 
refers  to  the  opening  of  that  Sunday-school  on  the 
west  side  of  the  city  which  has  since  developed  into 
Christ  Church ;  but  the  complete  story  of  that  unsel- 
fish and  most  successful  enterprise  must  be  reserved 
for  a  future  chapter. 

And  now,  at  length,  the  time  had  come  to  take 
possession.  The  period  of  exile  was  over,  or,  since 
these  pilgrims  were  not  minded  to  return  to  the  land 
from  whence  they  had  come  out,  we  may  rather  say 
that  their  ship,  which  had  left  the  old  harbor  and 
put  to  sea  two  years  before,  had  at  last  been  brought 


*  Dr.  Adams  had  "  very  kindly  and  cordially "  offered  the  use  of  the 
Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  holding  of  the  Communion 
Service  on  at  least  one  occasion,  and  this  was  gratefully  accepted.  The 
trustees'  meetings  during  the  two  years  had  been  held  in  the  directors' 
room  of  the  Mechanics'  Bank,  the  session  meetings  in  the  pastor's  temporary 
study. 


292  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

in  safety  to  her  desired  haven.  On  October  31st, 
1858,  the  church  on  Murray  Hill  was  dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  * 

*  From  contemporary  newspapers  and  other  periodicals,  the  following 
account  of  this  event  has  been  compiled.  The  people,  assembled  by  the 
same  bell  that  had  "  sounded  the  call  to  worship  for  so  many  years  in  the 
old  church,"  came  together  in  great  numbers.  When  the  service  began 
"  an  immense  crowd  filled  the  spacious  edifice,  even  to  the  aisles  and  por- 
tals." Ex-President  Fillmore  and  his  wife  were  observed  to  be  among  the 
congregation.  The  service  was,  of  course,  conducted  by  Dr.  Spring,  "  the 
venerable  pastor,  who  seems  yet  to  retain  a  large  portion  of  the  vigor  of 
his  younger  days."    The  order  of  service  was  as  follows: 

1.  Opening  Prayer. 

2.  Psalm  (sung  by  the  congregation), 

"Where  shall  we  go  to  see  and  find 
A  habitation  for  our  God." 

3.  Prayer. 

4.  Psalm  132. 

5.  Collection,   "A  Thank  Offering,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Princeton 

Students." 

6.  Sermon,  on  "The  Sanctuary,"  from  the  text  Leviticus  19  :  30.     (It 

"  held  the  unwearied  attention  of  the  audience  for  an  hour  and 
a  half.") 

7.  The  Dedication  (the  people  standing). 

8.  Hymn. 

9.  Benediction. 

"  Fifth  Avenue  was  completely  blocked  with  carriages  for  a  long  time 
after  the  close  of  the  services."  Afternoon  and  evening  services  were  also 
held,  Dr.  Samuel  Spring  of  East  Hartford  officiating  at  the  one,  and  Dr. 
PhilUps  of  New  York  at  the  other.  See  "N.  Y.  Tribune,"  "N.  Y.  Evening 
Post,"  and  "N.  Y.  Times"  for  November  1st,  1858,  and  "The  Pres- 
byterian "  for  November  6th. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

WORK    RESUMED:   THE     CIVIL    WAR: 

1858-1863 

"  We  enter  upon  our  new  career  under  few  circumstances  of  discouragement  and 
many  of  bright  anticipation.  ...  In  tlie  name  of  tlie  Lord,  tiierefore,  we  set 
up  our  banners.  It  is  an  eventful  age  of  the  world  in  which  our  enterprise  receives 
this  new  impulse." — Gardiner  Spring,  1858,  "  The  Brick  Church  Memorial,"  pp.  74  /. 

"Ye  shall  hear  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars:  see  that  ye  be  not  troubled:  for 
all  these  things  must  come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is  not  yet." — Matthew  24  :  6. 

THE  members  of  the  Brick  Church  had  not 
waited  for  the  new  building  to  be  ready  be- 
fore they  began  to  revive  the  work  which  was 
to  occupy  it.  At  least  one  discontinued  enterprise 
had  been  zealously  taken  up  again  as  soon  as  the 
new  site  had  been  purchased,  and  even  before  the 
plans  for  the  new  church  had  been  fairly  begun. 
This  was  the  Sunday-school.  At  the  call  of  Dr. 
Spring,  eighteen  persons  came  together  in  Hope 
Chapel  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  in  November,  1856, 
"to  organize  a  Sabbath-school  which  should  be  con- 
nected with  the  Brick  Church  and  located  for  the 
present  at  the  Hope  Chapel."  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
the  teachers,  after  the  school  had  been  started,  was 
to  inquire  whether  during  the  interval  the  old  title, 
"School  No.  3,"  had  been  assigned  to  any  other  in- 
stitution. If  not,  they  voted  to  reassume  it.  We  do 
not  know  whether  they  were  successful,  for  this  is 
the  last  time  that  the  old  name  appears  in  the  records. 

293 


294  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

But  the  school  itself,  at  any  rate,  was  reestablished, 
ready  for  the  new  opportunity  that  was  about  to  open, 
and  on  the  day  of  the  new  church's  dedication,  the 
first  service  was  that  of  the  Sunday-school,  which,  at 
quarter  after  nine  assembled  in  its  own  room  in  the 
chapel  in  the  rear  of  the  church.  The  immediate 
renewal  of  this  important  department  of  church 
work  was  certainly  an  auspicious  opening,  and  indi- 
cated that  the  people  were  eager  to  regain  as  soon  as 
possible  whatever  ground  had  been  lost. 

As  soon  as  the  church  was  established  on  Murray 
Hill,  preparations  were  made  to  take  stock,  as  it 
were,  of  the  congregation,  and  to  exploit  the  neigh- 
borhood. Districts  were  laid  out  for  visitation  by 
the  pastor  and  elders,  and  we  still  possess  a  copy  of  a 
printed  street-plan  which  was  used  to  facilitate  this 
work.  It  represents  the  section  between  Thirty-sixth 
and  Fortieth  streets  and  between  Sixth  and  Lexing- 
ton avenues,  divided  up  into  sixty  visitation  districts. 
Dr.  Spring,  in  his  dedication  sermon,  had  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  no  other  churches  had  lo- 
cated in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  *  so  that  there 
was  a  free  field  for  the  Brick  Church  to  work  in,  and 
he  declared  also  that  the  surrounding  population 
had  already  shown  a  disposition  to  receive  the 
church  in  a  most  friendly  spirit.  Many,  indeed,  of 
those  who  were  now  neighbors,  had  in  former  days 
attended  the  old  Brick  Church,  and  these  welcomed 
the   opportunity   of   restoring   the   old   relationship. 

*  The  MadiBOn  Square  Church  had  been  built  on  Twenty-fourth  Street 
in  1854  and  the  "Marble"  Dutch  Church  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
ninth  Street  in  the  same  year.  There  were  less  important  churches  at 
Eighth  Avenue  and  Thirty-fourth  Street,  Broadway  and  Thirty-ninth 
Street,  and  Lexington  Avenue  and  Thirtieth  Street. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       295 

For  all  reasons,  therefore,  it  was  desirable  that  a 
very  patient  and  thorough  visitation  of  the  whole 
region  should  be  made,  and  this  the  session  now 
undertook. 

But  this  very  undertaking  must  have  brought  forci- 
bly home  to  them  a  truth  long  evident  to  all,  that 
their  pastor,  now  over  seventy  years  of  age,  was  ill 
able  to  do  the  full  work  of  a  city  pastorate,  and  least 
of  all,  to  break  ground  in  a  new  field.  Indeed,  there 
was  already  an  understanding  between  them  that  as 
soon  as  the  new  church  was  complete,  steps  should 
be  taken  to  lift  a  part  of  the  burden  from  his  shoul- 
ders. 

As  early  as  1848,  it  had  been  necessary  to  provide 
a  considerable  amount  of  pulpit  assistance.  The 
sum  of  $1,000,  was  then  put  at  the  disposal  of  the 
session  for  this  purpose,  and  this  act  was  repeated 
three  years  later.  But  some  months  before  the  de- 
parture from  Beekman  Street  it  became  evident  that 
a  more  radical  change  was  necessary.  The  situation 
was  one  that  the  officers  desired  to  treat  with  the 
greatest  delicacy,  not  wishing  to  seem  in  any  way  im- 
patient of  the  growing  infirmities  of  their  beloved 
pastor;  and  we  may  well  believe  that  he,  for  his  part, 
lover  of  the  church  as  he  was,  and  of  his  work  in  it, 
was  reluctant  to  begin  the  laying  aside  of  the  powers 
and  responsibilities  he  had  borne  so  long. 

The  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  elders  in  October, 
1855,  is,  therefore,  touched  with  that  inevitable  pathos 
of  the  old  workman  who  is  conscious  of  the  coming 
night.  *'  It  must  be  quite  as  obvious  to  you  as  to  my- 
self," he  said,  "that  I  am  not  able  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  my  office  to  any  such  extent  as  satisfies  my 


296  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

own  mind.  Though  my  health  is  vigorous  and  my 
courage  for  labor  undiminished,  the  calamity  *  with 
which  it  has  pleased  a  wise  and  righteous  Providence 
to  visit  me,  unfits  me  for  the  toil  in  which  it  has  been 
my  privilege  to  be  so  long  employed."  But  aside 
from  this  special  affliction,  his  age  itself,  as  he  said 
later  in  this  same  letter,  made  some  decided  assist- 
ance an  immediate  necessity.  He  made  several  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  means  of  providing  this,  evidently 
thinking  himself  that  the  best  plan  of  all  would  be  to 
call  a  colleague;  and  in  this  the  session  concurred, 
but  upon  full  consideration  of  pastor  and  session  to- 
gether, it  seemed  so  difficult  to  secure  a  proper  per- 
son for  this  office  while  the  church  was  still  strug- 
gling for  the  sale  of  one  property  and  the  purchase  of 
another,  that  delay  was  decided  upon,  until  the  new 
land  should  be  secured. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  church,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  already  at  work  on  Murray  Hill,  before  any 
active  measures  were  taken  for  calling  a  colleague. 
For  the  first  few  months  in  the  new  church  the  Sun- 
day afternoon  service  was  supplied  by  students  from 
Princeton  Seminary.  But  finally  in  March,  1859, 
a  call  was  issued  to  the  Rev.  William  James  Hoge, 
D.D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary  in  Virginia.  Dr.  Spring  and 
two  of  the  elders  had  gone  to  Virginia  expressly  to 
see  him,  and  had  returned  with  the  report  that,  in 
their  opinion,  "the  intellectual,  religious,  and  social 
qualifications  of  this  gentleman,  as  well  as  his  public 
performances  in  the  pulpit,  are  such  as  in  no  ordi- 
nary  degree   qualify   him   to   become   the   associate 

*  His  failing  eyesight. 


VyiLLlAM  J.  HOGE 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       297 

pastor  of  the  Brick  Church."  He  had  been  licensed 
to  preach  in  1850,  and,  previous  to  entering  his  pro- 
fessorship, had  been  for  four  years  pastor  of  the  West- 
minster Church  in  Baltimore,  where  his  former  pa- 
rishioners regarded  him  with  hig^h  esteem.  The  call 
now  issued  to  him  by  the  Brick  Church  was  unan- 
imous.* 

It  must  be  confessed  that  in  accepting,  as  he  did. 
Dr.  Hoge  was  undertaking  a  difficult  work,  which 
would  require  not  only  high  talents  and  great  indus- 
try, but  an  unusual  degree  of  tact  and  Christian 
grace.  Dr.  Spring  and  his  people  had  worked  to- 
gether, without  any  other  person  between  them,  for 
almost  half  a  century,  and  it  was  only  with  the  ut- 
most reluctance  on  both  sides,  and  in  answer  to  an 
imperative  necessity,  that  the  expedient  of  a  col- 
league had  been  adopted.  At  the  congregational 
meeting  which  called  Dr.  Hoge,  a  set  of  resolutions, 
offered  by  Mr.  Holden,  was  adopted,  in  which  were 
feelingly  expressed  the  love  of  the  Brick  Church 
people  for  Dr.  Spring,  their  sense  of  obligation  to 
him  for  past  service,  their  ever-increasing  apprecia- 
tion of  "his  richly  matured  and  invaluable  instruc- 
tions," their  joy  that,  though  *'his  eye  is  dimmed  by 
excessive  devotion  to  his  chosen  work,"  yet  "his 
natural  force  and  mental  vigor  are  not  abated," 
and  their  assurance  that  "it  will  always  be  our 
pleasure  and  anxious  desire  to  hear  him  preach  once 
every  Sabbath  and  to  render  such  other  assistance  at 
our  weekly  evening  services  as  may  be  agreeable  to 
his  own  feelings  and  wishes."  It  would  almost  have 
seemed  to  an  onlooker  at  the  meeting  that  it  had 

*  His  salary  was  $5,000,  the  same  as  that  received  by  Dr.  Spring. 


298  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

been  assembled  with  special  reference  to  the  old 
rather  than  to  the  new  pastor. 

But  both  pastor  and  people  had  determined  that 
the  newcomer  should  be  given  all  the  help  that  could 
be  conveyed  by  a  hearty  and  affectionate  welcome, 
and  Dr.  Spring,  especially,  had  determined  that  his 
young  colleague  should  be  as  free  as  was  possible 
from  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  situation.  Those 
who  were  present  on  the  evening  when  Dr.  Hoge 
was  installed  in  the  Brick  Church  *  were  much  im- 
pressed by  the  generous  spirit  in  which  the  venerable 
Dr.  Spring  said  of  his  youthful  associate,  '*He  must 
increase,  but  I  must  decrease.  My  sun  is  setting; 
his  has  not  yet  reached  its  zenith."  *'And  when," 
says  one  of  the  eye-witnesses,  *'the  senior  pastor 
stopped  in  his  discourse,  and  took  his  associate  by  the 
hand,  assuring  him  of  the  cordiality  of  his  welcome 
to  take  part  in  the  work,  there  were  few  dry  eyes  in 
the  house.  Such  scenes  are  rare,"  this  writer  conr 
tinues,  and  points  out  that  all  the  circumstances  of 
the  occasion  w^ere  such  as  could  only  be  produced  by 
great  personal  qualities  in  the  chief  participants. | 

The  Brick  Church  had  not  been  mistaken  in  re- 
gard to  the  man  they  had  chosen.  His  "lovely 
Christian  character  and  thrilling  pulpit  eloquence," 
to  quote  the  words  in  which  one  of  his  successors  in 
the  Brick  Church  has  referred  to  him,f  soon  won 

*  May  22d,  1859.  The  Rev.  F.  G.  Clarke  presided  as  moderator  of 
the  Presbytery.  The  Rev.  S.  D.  Alexander  offered  prayer.  Dr.  Spring 
preached  the  sermon.  The  charges  to  pastor  and  people  were  given  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Krebs  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Potts,  respectively.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Phillips 
offered  the  concluding  prayer. 

t  "The  Presbyterian,"  May  28th,  1859. 

i  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke  "An  Historic  Church,"  p.  23. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       299 

him  a  place  in  the  people's  affection  and  drew  great 
numbers  to  hear  him  preach.  He  delivered  the  gos- 
pel message  with  all  the  fire  and  passion  of  the 
Southland,  from  which  he  came,  and  soon  the  younger 
generation,  who  naturally  did  not  share  all  the  en- 
thusiasm of  their  parents  and  grandparents  re- 
garding Dr.  Spring,  were  again  thronging  the  Brick 
Church. 

Certainly  a  church  that  could  thus  appeal  to  all 
ages  and  varying  tastes  was  well  calculated  to  do  a 
great  work.  Dr.  Spring  in  1860,  at  the  time  of  his 
fiftieth  anniversary,  which  was  celebrated  with  great 
enthusiasm,*  declared  that  the  church's  change  of 
locality  had  resulted  in  great  gain;  and  spoke  with 
gratitude  and  joy  of  the  fact  that  the  services  in  the 
new  edifice  were  "filled  to  overflowing."  A  study  of 
the  benevolences  of  the  church  at  this  time  tells  the 
same  story  and  with  a  most  decided  emphasis.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  for  a  number  of  years  before 
1850  the  average  annual  benevolences  had  amounted 
to  a  little  over  $3,000.  The  highest  figure  for  any 
single  year  up  to  that  time  had  been  about  $5,800. 
Until  1860,  this  figure  had  not  been  exceeded.  But 
in  that  year,  it  suddenly  rose  to  $8,500,  and  from 
this  time  continued  to  rise  by  leaps  and  bounds,  year 
after  year.f 

*  The  anniversary  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Spring  on  August  5th. 
Owing  to  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Spring  at  that  time  and  her  death  soon  after, 
the  rest  of  the  celebration  was  deferred  till  October  15th.  On  that  occa- 
sion a  magnificent  silver  service  was  presented  to  Dr.  Spring,  while  the 
words  spoken  by  his  oldest  and  dearest  friends  in  the  Brick  Church  were 
a  still  richer  expression  of  esteem  and  love. 

1 1861,  $9,300;  1862,  $9,600;  1863,  $14,600;  1864,  $14,700;  1865, 
$19,200.  This  increase  was  partly  due  to  growing  interest  in  the  mission 
Sunday-school  to  be  described  in  the  next  chapter. 


300  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

One  evidence  of  the  church's  increased  activity  is 
directly  traceable  to  the  influence  of  Dr.  Hoge.  It 
has  already  been  pointed  out  that  his  great  oppor- 
tunity was  with  the  younger  people.  It  was  surely 
by  no  accident,  therefore,  that  "The  Young  Men's 
Association  of  the  Brick  Church"  was  organized 
during  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate.*  It  is  easy  to 
believe  that  the  following  words  from  the  preamble 
of  the  society's  constitution  were  suggested  by  Dr. 
Hoge  himself,  and  that  they  represented  with  some 
exactness  a  chief  purpose  of  his  own  New  York  min- 
istry. "The  disciple  who  leaned  on  Jesus'  bosom 
once  said,  *I  write  unto  you,  young  men,  because  ye 
are  strong.'  It  is  to  the  young  men  .  .  .  that  [our 
churches]  must  look  as  the  future  depositories  of 
that  Christian  and  moral  influence  which  is  to  pro- 
tect and  advance  the  highest  interests  of  the  church 
and  the  world." 

It  was,  accordingly,  the  purpose  of  this  organiza- 
tion to  draw  together  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
young  men  of  the  Brick  Church,  from  fifteen  years 
old  and  upward,  into  a  comradeship  whose  objects 
were  "to  promote  Christian  friendship  and  social 
intercourse  among  its  members,  to  improve  their 
spiritual  and  mental  conditions,  and  to  take  such 
measures  for  benevolent  action  as  may  be  deemed 
proper,  especially  such  as  will  tend  to  exert  a  salu- 
tary influence  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  church." 
The  regular  meetings  were  held  on  the  second  Mon- 
day of  each  month  (except  July  and  August),  and  no 

*  The  constitution  was  adopted  on  February  27tli,  1860.  The  officers 
for  1860-1861  were:  Pres.,  George  de  Forest  Lord;  Vice-Pres.,  Robert 
Stewart,  M.D.;  Sec,  Arthur  Oilman;  Treas.,  William  D.  Black;  Mana- 
gers, George  A.  Bennett,  Charles  T.  White,  Thomas  C.  M.  Paton. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       301 

special  regulations  were  made  as  to  their  nature,  ex- 
cept for  the  provision  that  "all  remarks  or  discus- 
sions of  a  political  or  controversial  character  shall  be 
excluded." 

When  we  remember  in  what  year  of  our  American 
history  this  society  was  formed,  the  year  namely,  in 
which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  first  elected  to  the 
Presidency,  we  perceive  a  very  special  appropriate- 
ness in  that  one  restriction  just  quoted,  and  when  we 
realize  further  that  Dr.  Hoge  was  a  Southerner,  we 
can  see  that  "political  and  controversial"  subjects 
were  especially  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  Young 
Men's  Association.  But  more  than  that,  they  were 
a  danger,  we  may  readily  believe,  to  the  peace  of  the 
whole  church.  How  had  it  happened  that  on  the 
very  eve  of  the  war  a  Virginian  had  deliberately  been 
installed  over  the  Brick  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York  ? 

We  cannot  but  regard  this  occurrence  as  the  result 
of  a  serious  error  in  judgment  on  the  part  of  the 
church  and  its  officers,  and  of  a  singular  lack  of 
foresight.  Dr.  Hoge,  on  the  other  hand,  urged  to 
come  to  a  great  church  in  America's  greatest  city, 
was  more  pardonable.  And  yet  upon  him,  of  course, 
the  chief  punishment  for  the  mistake  fell.  Some  of 
the  very  qualities  that  made  him  eloquent,  the  quali- 
ties of  a  sensitive  and  high-strung  nature,  made  him 
also  the  more  quick  to  suffer  from  any  of  the  thou- 
sand bitter  words  that  filled  the  air  in  those  days  of 
controversy;  while  to  avoid  giving  offence,  on  his 
side,  required  perhaps  more  tact  than  any  ordinary 
man  was  likely  to  possess,  and  it  must  be  confessed 
that  tact  was  not  his  strong  point. 


302  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

In  1861,  when  war  had  actually  broken  out,  the 
situation  soon  became  acute.  Dr.  Hoge  had  many 
warm  friends  in  the  church,  men  who,  although,  as 
he  himself  declared,  they  totally  differed  from  him 
in  everything  relating  to  the  national  crisis,  believed 
that  he  was  following  a  wise  and  blameless  course,  * 
and  were  *' unwilling  to  allow  a  dissolution  of  the 
pastoral  relation  on  grounds  of  political  opinions." 
Such  prominent  officers  in  the  church  as  Daniel 
Lord,  Abner  L.  Ely,  Moses  Allen,  James  Darrach, 
and  Thomas  Egleston,  held  this  view  of  the  matter. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  preponderant  element  in  the 
church  felt  that  the  situation  was  intolerable,  and 
that  the  presence  of  an  avowed  Southerner  in  the 
Brick  Church  pulpit  could  not  but  cause  continual 
and  increasing  friction,  however  careful  he  might  be 
to  avoid  in  his  public  utterances  all  controverted 
subjects. 

The  ideal  of  conduct  which  Dr.  Hoge  had  set  be- 
fore himself  was  in  theory  admirable. f  On  the  one 
hand,  he  assumed  that  as  a  free  citizen  of  the  Re- 
public he  had  an  unquestionable  right  "firmly  to 
hold  and  calmly  to  express,"  in  private,  his  opinions. 
His  position,  to  be  sure,  required  him  to  declare  them 
"unobtrusively,"  and  sometimes  to  waive  conversa- 
tion on  such  topics,  but  "when  fairly  approached  by 
any  responsible  person"  in  private  conversation,  he 
claimed  his  right  to  make  known  "frankly  and  cour- 
teously" his  political  faith. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  purposed  to  exclude  abso- 
lutely  from   the   pulpit   the   questions   that   divided 

*  "Farewell  Discourse  of  Dr.  Hoge,"  p.  8. 

t  The  following  outline  is  taken  from  his  "  Farewell  Discourse,"  pp.  9^. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       303 

men's  minds.  His  prayers  he  designed  to  make  of 
such  a  character  as  would  express  the  proper  peti- 
tions of  men  in  South  or  North,  and  his  sermons  he 
undertook  to  keep  entirely  out  of  the  realm  of  poli- 
tics. Indeed,  he  held,  and  had  held  even  before  the 
war,  that  the  rigid  exclusion  of  politics  from  Chris- 
tian preaching  was  the  duty  of  every  minister  of  the 
gospel,  even  if  he  and  his  congregation  were  in  agree- 
ment on  every  point. 

In  much  of  this,  without  doubt,  Dr.  Hoge  was  in 
the  abstract  quite  right.  But  whether  his  plan  fitted 
exactly  the  existing  situation,  or  would  work  among 
ordinary  human  beings  at  a  time  of  heated  excite- 
ment, was  another  matter.  The  practical  question 
was  whether  a  man  whose  approval  of  secession  was 
well  known,  could  be  listened  to  with  composure  by 
a  Northern  congregation  week  after  week;  whether 
he  could  go  in  and  out  as  pastor  among  a  people  to 
whom  he  was  a  *' rebel";  whether  the  studied  avoid- 
ance of  direct  allusions  to  the  war  in  prayer  and  dis- 
course would  really  keep  the  services  free  from  all 
political  significance,  so  long  as  the  minister  stood 
there  as  a  personal  representative  of  the  enemy. 

One  concrete  instance  may  be  given  by  way  of 
illustration.  In  the  petitions  for  those  in  places  of 
authority.  Dr.  Hoge  had  used  such  expressions  as 
would  include  (of  course  without  mentioning  them) 
the  rulers  of  the  Confederate  States.  Now  without 
doubt,  such  obedience  to  the  apostolic  exhortation 
that  "supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  giv- 
ing of  thanks,  be  made  for  all  men,"  is,  as  Dr.  Hoge 
declared,  in  full  accord  with  the  truest  Christian  spirit. 
In  every  Christian  Church  in  time  of  war  the  enemy 


304  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ought  certainly  to  be  prayed  for.  But  for  a  South- 
erner, who  frankly  hoped  that  the  North  would  be 
annihilated,  to  lead  a  Northern  congregation  in  ask- 
ing, however  vaguely,  for  a  blessing  upon  the  rulers 
and  fighters  of  the  South,  was,  not  unnaturally,  a  little 
more  than  average  Northerners  could  stand. 

At  length  in  July,  1861,  a  meeting  of  the  session 
was  called  for  the  declared  purpose  of  discussing 
*'the  relations  of  the  church  and  its  pastors  to  the 
present  state  of  the  country."  But  Dr.  Hoge  felt 
that  the  time  for  discussion  was  over,  and  as  soon  as 
the  meeting  opened,  he  offered  his  resignation.  It 
was  accepted  by  a  bare  majority. 

Dr.  Hoge,  as  was  very  natural,  felt  some  bitterness 
toward  those  who  had  plainly  desired  him  to  leave. 
The  unfortunate  tone  of  sarcasm  and  accusation  in 
which  he  allowed  himself,  in  public  utterance  and  in 
print,  to  speak  of  them  *  makes  this  evident.  And 
not  a  few  of  the  congregation  were  inclined  to  feel 
that  his  personal  qualities  and  his  work  in  New 
York  had  not  been  fully  recognized.  On  the  day 
after  that  on  which  his  resignation  had  been  accepted 
by  the  session,  a  number  of  them  expressed  in  writ- 
ing to  Dr.  Hoge  their  sorrow  at  his  parting  from 
them,  and  their  veneration  for  his  consistent  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel,  and  for  the  Christian  moderation 
and  gentleness  of  his  bearing  "in  the  midst  of  angry, 
political  excitements."  Yet  it  must  in  time  have  be- 
come evident  to  his  most  warm  admirers,  and  indeed 
to  Dr.  Hoge  himself,  that  his  position  in  the  church 
at  such  a  juncture  was  unnatural,  and  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  long  continued. 

*  "Farewell  Discourse,"  pp.  7  /.,  24. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       305 

At  the  time  when  the  resignation  was  accepted, 
the  session  voted  to  submit  their  action  to  a  congre- 
gational meeting  one  week  from  that  day.  But  for 
this  Dr.  Hoge  refused  to  wait.  On  the  intervening 
Sunday  he  preached  a  farewell  sermon  to  a  congre- 
gation in  which  the  tension  was  extreme.  One  inci- 
dent of  the  occasion  was  especially  significant  of  the 
irreconcilable  differences  which  no  attempt  at  fair- 
ness of  statement  could  overcome.  While  the  sermon 
was  being  delivered  Dr.  Spring  sat  in  the  pulpit. 
Dr.  Hoge,  at  the  close  of  a  passage  in  which  he  had 
spoken  of  recent  events  in  the  country  and  the 
church,  turned  to  Dr.  Spring  and  said:  *'I  appeal  to 
my  venerable  colleague  whether  this  is  not  in  sub- 
stance correct."  Dr.  Spring  shook  his  head  in  the 
negative,  and  in  a  decisive  tone,  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  by  many  in  the  church,  declared,  "It  is  not. 
Sir."*  The  truth  was,  no  doubt,  that  a  Southerner 
and  a  Northerner  at  that  time  inevitably  saw  the  same 
events  with  different  eyes. 

Early  in  the  following  week,  and  before  the  arrival 
of  the  day  set  for  the  congregational  meeting.  Dr. 
Hoge  took  his  departure,  and  thus  passed  out  of  the 
history  of  the  Brick  Church.  He  was  soon  at  work 
again  in  a  Virginian  parish,  and  now  threw  himself, 
untrammelled,  into  the  work  that  opened  for  him 
there  on  every  side,  exhibiting  that  Christian  zeal 
and  devotion  which  had  always  characterized  him. 
The  truth  was,  that  when  he  went  back  to  the  South, 
he  went  to  lay  down  his  life  for  that  Southern  cause 
in  which  he  conscientiously  believed.    Almost  a  year 

♦  This  scene  has  been  described  to  the  writer  by  an  eye-witness.  See 
also  "N.  Y.  Tribune,"  July  23d,  1861. 


306  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

before  the  war  was  over  his  labors  in  the  army  hos- 
pitals, added  to  his  work  among  the  people  of  his 
parish,  had  worn  out  even  so  robust  a  frame  as  his, 
and  made  him  an  easy  prey  to  the  typhoid  fever 
which  then  attacked  him.    He  died  on  July  5th,  1864. 

From  the  time  of  Dr.  Hoge's  departure,  the  Brick 
Church  stood,  without  reservation,  for  loyalty  to  the 
Union,  and  that  in  no  uncertain  manner.  Dr.  Spring 
did  not  at  all  agree  with  the  view  that  at  that  time 
the  pulpit  should  hold  aloof  from  the  discussion  of 
current  politics.  Rather  he  held  that  the  national 
situation  was  such  as  to  demand  from  the  Christian 
Church  a  strong  and  unmistakable  declaration  of  its 
attitude. 

He  was  not,  it  should  be  said,  one  of  those  who, 
from  the  beginning,  had  bitterly  opposed  the  policy 
of  the  South.  He  said  himself:  "When  the  first  in- 
dications of  this  conflict  made  their  appearance,  all 
my  prepossessions,  as  is  well  known,  were  with  the 
Southern  States."*  As  early  as  1839,  and  again  in 
1851,  he  had  delivered  and  published  lectures  de- 
signed to  rebuke  the  extreme  abolition  spirit  of  the 
North,  and  even  a  short  time  before  the  war,  he  was 
strongly  drawn  to  espouse  the  Southern  cause, 
through  his  horror  of  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union. 
Slavery,  he  felt,  was  recognized  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  rights  of  the  South  in 
this  matter  could  not  be  ignored,  however  much 
slavery  itself  might  deserve  extinction.  It  was  only 
when  he  became  convinced  of  what  he  regarded  as  a 
wicked  and  determined  disloyalty  in  the  South,  and 

♦"State  Thanksgiving  during  the  Rebellion;  A  Sermon."  N.  Y., 
1862,  p.  32. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       307 

especially  when  the  seceding  States  had  actually 
broken  the  Union,  that  his  sympathy  for  the  South- 
ern position  came  to  an  end. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  because  he  was  carried  away 
by  excess  of  passion  that,  after  the  war's  beginning, 
he  gave  himself,  in  private  and  in  public,  in  the  pul- 
pit and  out  of  it,  to  the  support  of  the  government, 
but  because  he  felt  that  loyalty  had  been  made  the 
issue,  and  that  the  church  ought  openly  and  officially, 
to  withstand  the  destroyers  of  the  nation,  as  they 
would  withstand  any  other  enemies  of  public  morals. 
"  Strong  as  have  been  my  predilections  for  the  South," 
he  said,  "  ...  I  have  not  been  able  to  see,  nor  do  I 
now  see,  the  justice,  the  equity  of  her  demands.  We 
regard  the  act  of  secession,  so  causeless,  so  rash,  so 
fratricidal,  so  ruthless — as  unequalled  in  wickedness. 
I  do  not  know  that  the  history  of  the  world  records 
a  more  criminal  procedure."  * 

In  May,  1861,  at  the  General  Assembly,  then  con- 
vened in  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Spring  introduced  and 
urged  certain  resolutions,  declaring  the  loyalty  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  were,  with  slight  modi- 
fications, passed  by  a  large  majority.  The  part  of 
these  "Spring  Resolutions,"  as  they  were  called, 
which  now  especially  concerns  us  was  as  follows: 
"Resolved,  that  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  spirit 
of  that  Christian  patriotism  which  the  Scriptures  en- 
join, and  which  has  always  characterized  this  Church, 
do  humbly  acknowledge  and  declare  our  obligations 
to  promote  and  perpetuate,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  the  in- 
tegrity of  these  United  States,  and  to  strengthen,  up- 
hold, and  encourage  the  Federal  Government  in  the 

*  "State  Thanksgiving,"  etc.,  pp.  34  /. 


308  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

exercise  of  all  its  functions  under  our  Constitution; 
and  to  this  Constitution,  in  all  its  provisions,  require- 
ments, and  principles,  we  profess  our  unabated  loy- 
alty." * 

By  this  declaration,  which  Dr.  Spring  had  led  the 
Church  at  large  to  make,  the  Brick  Church  was 
guided  throughout  the  war.  The  stars  and  stripes 
flew  from  her  steeple.  The  sermons  to  which  her 
congregations  reverently  listened  were  filled  with  the 
love  of  country  as  with  the  love  of  God.  The  prayers 
in  which  the  people  were  led,  from  Sunday  to  Sunday, 
asked  in  all  plainness  that  the  endeavors  of  the 
national  enemy  might  be  brought  to  nought. 

We  who  live  so  long  after  that  tragic  conflict,  and 
who,  with  the  disappearance  of  old  prejudices,  know 
now  that  honor  and  truth  and  love  of  country  were 
by  no  means  the  exclusive  possession  of  one  side,  do 
not  care  to  dwell  more  than  is  necessary  upon  that 
period  of  division  and  bitter  strife ;  and  it  is  more  con- 
genial to  us  to  note,  as  we  may,  in  concluding  the 
account  of  the  attitude  of  the  Brick  Church  through 
the  war,  that  even  in  the  heat  of  those  passions  which 
war  inevitably  arouses,  the  Brick  Church  people  were 
not  permitted  to  forget  the  bond  of  Christian  brother- 
hood which  bound  them  to  the  people  of  the  South- 
ern States.  *'We  reluctantly  take  up  the  sword  in 
defence  of  the  rich  heritage  God  has  given  us,"  said 
Dr.  Spring  in  the  Brick  Church  pulpit  in  November, 
1861,  "and  most  cheerfully  will  we  return  it  to  its 
scabbard  when  this  heritage  is  secure.  ...  It  will  be 

*  Dr.  Hoge  did  not  resign  till  two  months  after  these  resolutions  were 
passed.  Their  effect  upon  his  continuance  in  the  Brick  Chiu-ch  pastorate 
will  be  evident. 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       309 

the  joy  of  our  hearts  and  the  thank-offering  of  our 
Hps  to  sound  the  retreat  the  moment  the  voice  of  re- 
beUion  is  silent.  We  have  no  bitterness  against  the 
South.  We  do  not  wish  to  reign  over  them,  but  to 
reign  with  them,  and  wish  them  to  reign  with  us,  as 
they  have  ever  done,  in  all  the  rights  and  immunities 
of  the  Federal  Government."  * 

While  the  war  was  in  progress  the  church  had 
once  more  called  and,  to  the  great  regret  of  all,  lost 
again,  an  associate  pastor.  On  February  6th,  1862, 
the  Rev.  William  G.  T.  Shedd,  Professor  of  Ecclesi- 
astical History  and  Pastoral  Theology  in  Andover 
Seminary,  was  unanimously  called  to  be  the  col- 
league of  Dr.  Spring.  Dr.  Shedd  hesitated  not  a 
little  to  change  his  field  of  labor  from  that  of  teach- 
ing, in  which  he  had  been  engaged  for  seventeen 
years,  to  that  of  the  active  pastorate;  and  probably, 
had  it  not  been  that  the  call  also  offered  him  an  op- 
portunity to  enter  the  Presbyterian  Church,  whose 
doctrine  and  polity  were  peculiarly  congenial  to  him, 
he  might  not  have  accepted.  At  length,  however,  his 
duty  in  the  matter  seemed  to  him  clear,  and  he  en- 
tered with  gladness  into  the  service  of  the  people  of 
the  Brick  Church,  and  into  the  close  fellowship  which 
it  offered  with  "their  revered  pastor,  whose  praise 
and  influence,"  as  Dr.  Shedd  said,  "are  in  all  the 
churches."  f 

It  was  a  remarkable  fact  that  Dr.  Spring,  though 
so  far  advanced  in  years,  was  still  able  to  carry  a  very 
large  part  of  the  burden  of  the  church's  work.  But 
Dr.  Shedd  had  not  long  been  settled  in  New  York 

*  "State  Thanksgiving,"  etc.,  p.  42. 

t  The  installation  took  place  on  April  13th,  1862. 


310  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

when  it  appeared  that  the  senior  pastor  must  with- 
draw largely  from  active  service.  Upon  the  associate, 
therefore,  the  responsibility  fell  more  and  more 
heavily,  and  toward  the  close  of  1863  it  became  evi- 
dent that  soon  he  must  bear  the  whole  burden  alone. 
This  sudden  increase  of  demand  upon  his  strength 
Dr.  Shedd  had  not  anticipated,  and  his  health  began 
to  break  down  under  it,  so  that  when  in  September, 
1863,  he  received  a  call  to  the  chair  of  Biblical  Liter- 
ature in  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New  York, 
he  felt  constrained  to  accept  it. 

The  church  allowed  him  to  go  with  the  greatest 
reluctance.  He  was  most  affectionately  regarded  by 
the  people  and  by  his  senior  colleague.  His  brief 
work  in  the  church  was  felt  to  be  "eminently  useful 
and  acceptable,"  and  had  given  to  all "  encouragement 
and  hope  for  the  future."  If  at  the  last  moment  he 
had  been  willing  to  remain,  his  decision  would  have 
been  hailed  with  joy,  and  such  assistance  would  have 
been  given  him  in  his  work  as  would  have  freed  him 
from  all  anxieties  on  the  score  of  overtaxing  his 
strength.  But  Dr.  Shedd  persisted  in  his  decision, 
and  his  subsequent  life  abundantly  proved  that  in 
returning  to  the  work  of  a  teacher  and  a  writer,  he 
was  following  the  natural  bent  of  his  genius.  It  was 
a  happy  circumstance  that,  after  leaving  the  pastor- 
ate of  the  Brick  Church,  he  continued  his  allegiance 
to  her  as  an  attendant  upon  her  services  until  the 
time  of  his  death.* 

The  choice  of  a  successor  to  Dr.  Shedd  was  de- 

*  In  November,  1894.  He  had  continued  as  Professor  in  Union  Semi- 
nary until  1891,  but  had  been  transferred  to  the  chair  of  Systematic  The- 
ology in  1874. 


WILLIAM  G.  T.  SHEDD 


WORK  RESUMED:    CIVIL  WAR       311 

layed  for  some  time  through  the  failure  of  the  church, 
on  two  occasions,  to  secure  the  persons  whom  they 
desired  to  call,  and  the  year  1864  had  almost  come 
to  a  close  before  this  important  undertaking  was 
accomplished. 


PART  THREE 
THE  MODERN  PERIOD 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH":  1864-1875 

"Behold,  the  former  things  are  come  to  pass,  and  new  things  do  I  declare;  be- 
fore they  spring  forth  I  tell  you  of  them." — Isaiah  42  :  9  f. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  have  anything  to  do  with  sacred  song,  to  educate 
the  Christian  popular  heart  in  the  very  best  and  highest  forms  of  devotional  ex- 
perience."— James  O.  Murray,  "Christian  Hymnology,"  p.  37. 

ON  December  12th,  1864,  the  church  called  to 
be  its  associate  pastor  the  Rev.  James  Orms- 
bee  Murray,  who,  ten  years  before  had  been 
one  of  Dr.  Shedd's  pupils  at  Andover,  and  was  now 
recommended  to  the  church  by  him.  Although  osten- 
sibly his  position  was  the  same  as  that  held  by  Dr. 
Hoge  and  Dr.  Shedd  before  him,  the  conditions  under 
which  he  entered  upon  his  pastorate  were  in  one 
respect  essentially  different.  Dr.  Spring  had  now  so 
far  withdrawn  from  active  work  that  his  associate 
became  in  everything  but  name  the  sole  pastor  of 
the  church. 

Six  months  before  Dr.  Murray  was  called.  Dr. 
Spring  had  communicated  to  his  people  the  fact  that 
"by  reason  of  his  age  and  increased  infirmities"  he 
felt  unable  to  continue  even  so  great  a  measure  of 
service  as  he  was  then  rendering.  The  name  "pastor 
emeritus"  was  not  used,  but  the  understanding  was 
that  he  should  now  be  retired  on  a  reduced  salary  of 

315 


316  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

$3,000,  and  that  the  associate,  about  to  be  called, 
should  assume  practically  the  whole  burden  of  labor 
and  responsibility. 

During  the  eight  remaining  years  of  Dr.  Spring's 
life  it  was  his  joy  to  take  such  part  in  the  services  of 
the  church  as  his  strength  permitted,  and  to  his  old 
parishioners  the  sight  of  his  venerable  head  and  the 
sound  of  his  voice  seemed  like  a  benediction  upon 
the  church's  work.  By  the  thoughtfulness  of  the 
trustees  a  railing  was  erected  beside  the  steps  at  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  pulpit  in  order  that  he  might 
ascend  and  descend  in  safety.  He  was  now  almost 
totally  blind,  yet  so  richly  was  his  memory  stored, 
that  he  could,  if  there  were  need,  conduct  an  entire 
service,  repeating  the  Scripture  lesson  and  the  words 
of  the  hymns  with  as  much  accuracy  as  though  he 
were  reading  them  from  the  book.  Not  only  by 
his  own  congregation — ^the  grandchildren  and  great 
grandchildren  of  the  generation  among  whom  he  had  - 
begun  his  work — but  also  by  the  whole  city,  the 
presence  of  this  aged  saint  was  counted  a  blessing: 
"the  patriarch  of  our  metropolitan  pulpit,"  Dr. 
Adams  called  him. 

It  was  regarded  by  every  one  as  a  peculiarly  happy 
thing  that  Dr.  Spring  lived  long  enough,  not  only  to 
see,  but  to  take  some  part  in,  that  reunion  of  the  Old 
and  New  Schools  for  which  he  had  long  been  hoping 
and  praying.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  1897  he 
had  been  one  of  those  who  deeply  deplored  the  divi- 
sion, and  that  he  had  done  his  best  to  prevent  it. 
Thirty-two  years  later,  in  1869,  he  rejoiced  in  the 
coming  together  again  of  the  two  schools  in  a  reunited 
Church.     The  Assemblies  that  year,  with  a  special 


O    a 


J 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     317 

view  to  facilitating  this  happy  consummation,  were 
both  held  in  New  York  and  within  four  blocks  of 
one  another,  that  of  the  New  School  at  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  at  Park  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth 
Street,  since  incorporated  into  the  Brick  Church, 
and  that  of  the  Old  School  at  the  Brick  Church 
itself. 

In  spite  of  the  strong  movement  toward  reunion, 
which  had  been  gathering  strength  for  several  years, 
there  was  at  the  last  moment  a  feeling  on  the  part 
of  many  that  the  attempt  was,  after  all,  premature. 
Dr.  Spring,  eighty-four  years  of  age,  and  knowing 
that  his  time  on  earth  could  not  be  greatly  prolonged, 
was  one  of  those  who  would  not  listen  to  the  word 
delay.  At  the  opening  of  the  Old  School  Assembly, 
sitting  in  the  pulpit  beside  the  presiding  officer,  he 
suggested  to  him  the  propriety,  as  the  first  business, 
*'of  notifying  the  other  branch  of  our  readiness  to 
consummate  the  reunion  immediately."  This  did 
not  at  the  moment  appear  to  be  practicable,  and 
Dr.  Spring,  called  upon  to  make  the  opening  prayer, 
felt  that  there  was  still  work  to  be  done  by  him  in  his 
Master's  vineyard.  "When  this  majestic  and  veter- 
an pastor  .  .  .  rose  in  prayer,"  says  Dr.  Jacobus 
in  the  official  history  of  the  reunion,  "he  uttered 
such  exalted  petitions,  in  such  glowing  and  godly 
words,  as  even  he,  perhaps,  had  never  excelled."  * 

In  the  course  of  the  succeeding  debates  and  con- 
ferences. Dr.  Spring's  voice  was  still  heard.  He 
urged  that  any  delay  in  the  consummation  would  be 
"flying  in  the  face  of  the  prayers  of  God's  people." 
"If  you  postpone  this  union  another  year,"  said  he, 

*  "The  Presbyterian  Reunion."   N.  Y.,  1870.,  p.  334. 


318  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

**I  shall  probably  not  see  it,  but  shall  die  a  member 
of  a  divided  Church."  *  As  is  well  known,  his  fears, 
so  feelingly  expressed,  were  not  to  be  realized,  and 
meantime,  on  Friday,  May  28th,  at  the  joint  Com- 
munion Service  in  which  the  members  of  the  two 
Assemblies  shared,  he,  with  the  two  moderators, 
officiated  at  the  table.  "It  was,"  says  the  historian, 
*'  as  if  Moses  or  Elias  had  come  down  to  talk  on  that 
Transfiguration  Mount,  of  the  decease  accomplished 
at  Jerusalem."! 

After  sharing  in  this  historic  event  Dr.  Spring 
might  well  feel  that  his  work  was  accomplished. 
"The  closing  years  of  his  life,"  wrote  Dr.  Murray, 
"were  marked  by  what  he  himself  used  to  call  'a 
gentle  decay.'  It  was,  indeed,  very  gentle.  His  fac- 
ulties were  clear,  his  interest  in  things  about  him 
keen,  his  enjoyment  of  life  healthy  and  true,  almost 
to  the  very  close." 

Of  the  days  just  before  the  end  there  is  but  a 
single  incident  that  need  be  here  repeated.  We  are 
told  that  during  those  last  days  he  was  never  tired  of 
hearing  what  he  called  the  bairns'  hymns,  and  it  was 
a  striking  illustration,  says  Dr.  Murray,  of  how  the 
mightiest  disciple  must  enter  the  kingdom  of  God 
only  as  a  little  child,  to  hear  the  old  man,  lying  like 
an  aged  patriarch  in  the  midst  of  his  household,  re- 
peat in  broken  accents  the  children's  prayer,  "Now 
I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  adding  at  the  end,  as  though 
the  words  had  carried  him  back  to  his  childhood 
days,  "and  make  me  a  good  boy,  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen."    On  the  18th  of  August,  1873,  he  died.    He 


*  "The  Presbyterian  Reunion,"  p.  349. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  360. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     319 

had  been  the  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church  for  sixty- 
three  years.  * 

Mr.  Murray,  who  came  to  take  up  the  work  of  the 
church  as  Dr.  Spring  was  laying  it  down,  was  in  the 
prime  of  Hfe,  and  was  fitted  in  an  exceptional  degree 
for  the  office  upon  which  he  now  entered,  f  He  had 
graduated  with  honors  from  Brown  University  in 
1850,  and  had  at  that  time  already  become  known 
for  his  Christian  character  and  his  scholarly  taste 
and  attainments.  He  had  especially  devoted  him- 
self to  the  study  of  English  literature  and  throughout 
his  whole  later  life  he  was  distinguished  for  "the  true 
literary  spirit"  with  which  he  was  imbued. 

The  next  period  of  his  life,  spent  at  Andover  in  his 
theological  preparation,  is  admirably  described  by 
one  of  his  classmates,  Charles  Tiffany,  afterward 
Archdeacon  of  the  Episcopal  Diocese  of  New  York. 
"Mr.  Murray  at  Andover,"  wrote  Dr.  Tiffany, 
"showed  as  a  student  just  the  same  qualities  which 
made  him  efficient  and  beloved  in  his  later  career. 
He  was  faithful  in  his  work  and  commanded  respect 

*  Although  he  received  several  calls  to  other  spheres  of  work,  he  never 
seriously  contemplated  any  change.  During  his  early  ministry  he  was 
offered  the  presidency  of  both  Dartmouth  and  Hamilton  colleges,  and  later 
he  was  sought  as  teacher  of  Sacred  Rhetoric  in  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary.  Even  in  1865,  eight  years  before  his  death,  there  remained  alive 
but  four  persons  who  had  been  members  of  the  church  at  the  time  of  his 
call.  He  had,  in  one  instance,  baptized  the  great-great-grandchild  of  one 
of  those  early  parishioners.  New  York's  population  during  his  pastorate 
had  increased  from  something  under  a  hundred  thousand  to  more  than  a 
million.  So  far  back  in  our  national  history  did  his  memory  reach  that  he 
could  say,  "  I  well  remember  the  day  when  Washington  died."  "  Life  and 
Times,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  212,  282  /. 

t  He  was  born  November  27th,  1827.  On  his  father's  side  his  ancestors 
were  Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians,  and  partly  of  Scotch  stock  (the 
Murrays),  partly  of  English,  settled  in  Ireland,  (the  Syngs).  On  hia 
mother's  side  his  blood  was  wholly  English  and  Puritan. 


320  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

as  a  scholar;  and  his  literary  felicity,  even  at  that 
early  period  of  his  life,  made  a  marked  impression  on 
all  who  heard  him  in  his  addresses  in  the  chapel  and 
on  other  semi-public  occasions.  Every  one  proph- 
esied for  him  a  future  of  eminence  and  distinguished 
usefulness.  Those  who  were  privileged,  as  I  was,  to 
be  of  the  number  of  his  intimate  friends  felt  the  spell 
of  his  charming  and  genial  personality,  and  loved 
him  as  much  as  they  respected  and  admired  him. 
His  religious  character  was  too  deep  to  be  ostenta- 
tious, but  it  was  manifest  in  his  profound  earnestness 
and  in  a  high  tone  of  thought  and  simplicity  of  ex- 
pression which  marked  his  intercourse  with  others. 
He  was  so  genuinely  human  and  so  unconsciously  true 
and  spiritual  that  one  knew  he  would  reach  men 
and  elevate  them  by  merely  being  what  he  was.  .  .  . 
His  humor  added  a  glow  to  his  more  solid  qualities, 
and  his  refinement  of  nature  gave  him  the  distinction 
and  influence  so  commanding  in  a  genuine  gentle- 
man. He  belonged  to  the  very  elect  both  by  nature 
and  by  grace."  *  Such,  even  in  his  seminary  days, 
was  he  who,  after  two  Massachusetts  pastorates,! 
was  called  to  the  Brick  Church  in  1864.  His  ten- 
year  pastorate  in  New  York  will  be  described  in  this 
chapter  and  the  next. 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  man  and  a  sign  of  the 
beginning  of  what  may  be  called  the  modern  period 
of  the  history  of  the  Brick  Church,  that  Mr.  Murray 
early  gave  his  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the 

♦From  a  letter  quoted  in  "James  O.  Murray:  a  Memorial  Sermon." 
By  John  DeWitt,  Princeton,  1899,  pp.  23  /. 

t  In  South  Dan  vers,  near  Salem  (1854-1861),  and  in  Cambridgeport 
(1861-1864),  where  many  students  of  the  University  were  drawn  to  his 
services. 


JAMES  O.  MURRAY 


'*THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"    321 

music  of  the  church  services.  Already,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  changed  spirit  of  the  times  had  caused  the 
introduction  of  the  pipe  organ,  but  the  singing  was 
still  led  by  the  chorister,  and,  with  the  removal  from 
the  old  site,  even  the  volunteer  choir  had  evidently 
been  discontinued.  No  doubt  the  congregation  were 
ready  to  welcome  a  change  in  these  conditions,  but 
there  had  been  lacking  some  one  in  authority  who 
was  in  sympathy  with  the  more  modern  taste,  and 
willing  to  exert  himself  in  an  endeavor  to  satisfy  it. 
Mr.  Murray  was  both  able  and  ready  to  undertake 
this  work. 

He  had  not  long  been  in  the  church  when  he  was 
asked  to  become  chairman  of  the  session's  music 
committee,  and  the  attempt  to  improve  the  quality  of 
the  music,  evidenced  by  a  decided  increase  in  the 
chorister's  salary  at  this  time,  was  no  doubt  the  im- 
mediate result  of  his  influence.* 

These  changes,  however,  were  merely  preliminary 
to  another  of  much  more  importance.  In  April, 
1866,  the  committee  on  music  reported  to  the  session 
that  upon  inquiry  a  very  general  desire  had  been 
found  among  the  congregation  for  "a  change  in  the 
present  method  of  conducting  the  singing,"  by  sub- 
stituting for  the  precentor  or  chorister  *'a  choir  of  at 
least  four  voices."  It  was  not  intended,  they  said, 
that  "congregational  singing  should  be  superseded 
by  the  performances  of  a  quartette,  but  only  that  the 
choir  should  lead  the  congregation  in  the  service  of 
song  in  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

*  It  now  became  a  part  of  the  chorister's  duty  to  sing  at  the  meeting  on 
Tuesday  evenings.  In  1872  a  small  pipe  organ  was  erected  in  the  lecture 
room. 


THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

**In  the  judgment  of  some  of  our  best  professional 
musicians,"  the  report  continues,  "the  only  method 
of  maintaining  congregational  singing  successfully  is 
by  putting  it  under  the  guidance  and  assistance  of  a 
choir  of  voices,  where  all  the  parts  are  represented ; 
and  the  musical  education  of  many  among  us,  es- 
pecially the  young,  as  also  the  musical  tastes  of  the 
community,  are  such  that  the  change  suggested  is 
thought  to  be  needful  in  order  to  make  them  inter- 
ested worshippers  in  this  most  delightful  part  of  our 
worship  of  God.  In  the  case  of  persons  seeking  a 
new  place  of  worship,  an  attractive  form  of  church 
music  is  often  a  controlling  element  in  their  choice." 
The  committee  were  of  the  opinion  that  any  addi- 
tional expense,  entailed  by  the  proposed  change, 
would  without  difficulty  be  met  by  means  of  private 
subscription. 

The  proposal  involved,  as  it  happened,  something 
more  than  the  hiring  of  a  quartette.  No  proper  place- 
had  been  provided  in  the  new  church  for  a  choir, 
even  of  four  voices,  and  it  was  at  first  thought  that 
the  best  way  of  dealing  with  this  difficulty  would  be 
to  open  an  entirely  new  gallery  under  the  tower  at  the 
east  end  of  the  church.  But  Mr.  Thomas,  the  archi- 
tect, recommended  a  less  costly  change,  by  which  the 
gallery  behind  the  pulpit  might  still  be  utilized. 
Under  his  supervision  the  columns,  whose  arrange- 
ment had  interfered  with  that  gallery's  use,  were  now 
moved  to  their  present  positions,  providing  a  clear 
space  of  ten  feet  in  the  centre.*  Here  it  was 
designed  that  the  quartette  should  stand,  while  the 
organ,  considerably  enlarged,!  was  moved  back  as 

*  See  p.  287,  note,     f  I*  '^as  reconstructed  by  Mr.  William  J.  Stewart. 


''THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     323 

far  as  was  necessary,  a  certain  portion  of  the  room 
in  the  rear  being  appropriated  for  this  purpose.* 
When  these  structural  changes  had  been  made,  a 
quartette  f  was  engaged  and  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  worship  in  the  Brick  Church  was  begun.  The 
trustees  had  dealt  with  the  matter  in  a  generous 
spirit  and  provided  out  of  the  church  treasury  the 
additional  sum  which  the  change  involved.  The 
music,  which  had  been  costing  $1,400,  now  called 
for  $2,500. 

The  next  musical  problem  to  which  Dr.  J  Murray 
gave  his  attention  was  the  providing  of  a  suitable 
hymn-book.  Already  the  volume  entitled  "Songs  for 
the  Sanctuary"  had  been  purchased,  in  1866,  for  use 
at  the  weekly  meetings,  but  to  find  a  satisfactory 
book  for  the  use  of  the  Sunday  services  was  a  matter 
much  more  difficult,  and  in  November,  1867,  the 
session  decided  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  a 
hymn-book  of  their  own,  which  should  include  a  se- 
lection "as  well  from  the  psalms  and  hymns  of  Watts 
as  from  all  other  published  hymns."  This  task  was 
entrusted  to  Mr.  William  S.  Oilman,  Mr.  Daniel 
Lord,  and  Dr.  Murray. § 

The  report  of  this  committee,  at  the  time  when  the 


*  A  wall  was  built  running  west  from  the  north  end  of  the  organ  loft 
and  cutting  off  entirely  the  whole  southern  end  of  the  room  in  the  rear, 
then  used  for  the  Sunday-school.  It  was  necessary,  in  consequence,  that 
the  Sunday-school  be  moved  to  the  third  story,  where  it  was  held  for  a 
number  of  years. 

t  This  first  quartette  was  composed  as  follows:  Miss  Kellogg,  soprano; 
Miss  Gordon,  alto;  Mr.  Emerson,  bass;  Mr.  Millard,  tenor. 

I  He  received  his  Doctor's  degree  in  1867. 

§  Mr.  Lord,  whose  "discriminating  taste  and  excellent  judgment" 
were  highly  prized,  died  before  the  book  was  complete.  Dr.  Spring  made 
the  selection  of  metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms. 


324  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

completed  manuscript  was  submitted  to  the  session, 
may  be  regarded  as  a  part,  not  only  of  the  history  of 
the  Brick  Church,  but  of  the  history  of  hymnology 
in  the  Church  at  large.  For  two  years,  the  report  tells 
us,  the  committee  had  devoted  itself  to  the  work  of 
making  a.  select  list  of  hymns  from  American  and 
English  publications,  with  a  view  to  securing  "the 
best  hymns  upon  the  various  topics."  During  this 
time  weekly  meetings  had  been  held,  at  which  the 
hymns  were  discussed  one  by  one,  while  the  consid- 
erable literature  on  the  subject,  "on  which,"  they 
say,  "more  has  probably  been  printed  during  the 
past  ten  years  than  for  a  generation  preceding,"  was 
thoroughly  canvassed. 

The  aim  pursued  had  been  to  select  hymns  "which 
show  forth  the  praises  of  God  and  the  glories  of  his 
attributes  in  the  glowing  language  of  the  emotions," 
such  hymns  as  "appeared  best  to  express  Scripture 
truths  regarding  man's  lost  estate  and  the  means  of 
his  recovery  through  Christ,"  and  to  be  most  "ex- 
pressive of  the  warmest  love  and  nearness  to  God.  .  . 
the  most  fervent  zeal,  and  the  most  touching  and  com- 
forting religious  experience." 

In  pursuing  this  purpose  the  committee  had  "cast 
aside  a  large  mass  of  mediocre  hymns,"  *  and  had 
chosen  in  their  place  "those  which  in  Watts,  Steele, 
Wesley,  Doddridge,  Toplady  and  some  more  modern 
writers  prove  themselves  the  offspring  of  deep  re- 
ligious  convictions   based   upon   a   sound   and   true 

*  They  add,  however:  "Your  committee  has  not  hesitated  to  retain 
some  hymns  apparently  subject  to  criticism  by  a  cultivated  taste,  but 
which,  by  general  consent  of  Christians,  appear  to  be  of  such  merit  as  to 
defy  ordinary  rules  of  criticism.  Among  such  we  regard  Newton's  '  'Tis 
a  point  I  long  to  know,'  and  '  I  asked  the  Lord  that  I  might  grow  in  grace.' " 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     325 

theology."  On  the  other  hand,  they  had  added  a 
large  number  of  valuable  hymns  which  were  not  to 
be  found  in  the  General  Assembly's  book  *  nor  in 
"Watts  and  Select,"  f  the  book  which  the  church 
was  at  that  time  using.  The  result  was  a  collection 
of  six  hundred  and  sixteen  psalms  and  hymns,  of 
such  a  character  that  the  committee  believed  no  other 
recent  compilation  for  congregational  use  was  "more 
rigidly  confined  to  the  productions  of  the  great  hymn 
writers,"  or  rnore  free  from  the  second-rate  material 
by  which  in  recent  years  the  hymnology  of  the  church 
had  been  debased. 

The  book  was  rendered  still  more  valuable  by  the 
inclusion  in  it  of  certain  of  the  ancient  hymns  of  the 
Church,  such  as  the  "Gloria  in  Excelsis"  and  the 
"Te  Deum,"  J  also  a  selection  of  other  chants,  es- 
pecially from  the  Psalms,  and  a  collection  of  sacred 

*  "As  a  sample  we  name  the  following,  namely:  by  Toplady,  'When  lan- 
guor and  disease  invade';  by  Charles  Wesley,  'Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise'; 
by  Needham,  'Rise,  O  my  soid,  pursue  the  path';  by  Cowper,  'The  bil- 
lows swell,  the  winds  are  high';  by  Montgomery,  'Prayer  is  the  soul's  sin- 
cere desire.' "    Committee's  report. 

t  "As  a  sample  we  name  the  following,  namely:  by  Doddridge,  'How 
gentle  God's  commands';  by  the  same,  'My  gracious  Lord,  I  own  thy 
right';  by  Tate  and  Brady,  'As  pants  the  hart  for  cooling  streams';  by 
Doddridge,  'Awake,  my  soul,  stretch  every  nerve';  by  Cowper,  'Jesus, 
where'er  thy  people  meet';  by  Wesley,  'Come,  O  thou  Traveller  un- 
known'; by  Gerhardt,  'O  Sacred  Head,  now  wounded';  by  Charlotte 
Elliot,  'Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea';  by  Mrs.  Adams,  'Nearer,  my  God, 
to  thee';  by  Henry  Francis  Lyte,  'Abide  with  me,  fast  falls  the  eventide'; 
by  an  unknown  author,  'Ye  Christian  heralds,  go  proclaim.'"  Commit- 
tee's report. 

X  The  committee  quote  with  approval  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Hamilton 
"that  in  churches  where  the  Apostles'  or  Nicene  Creed  is  not  audibly  re- 
peated by  the  congregation,  great  advantage  is  derived  from  confessing 
with  the  mouth  the  doctrine  of  our  holy  faith  in  song,  especially  in  this 
chant  [the  Te  Deum]  which  was  praised  by  Luther  as  a  good  symbol  not 
less  than  a  perfect  hymn." 


326  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

lyrics,*  which,  although  from  their  nature  unfitted  for 
congregational  singing,  "are  exceedingly  profitable 
in  private  devotions  and  are  calculated  greatly  to 
benefit  young  persons  in  the  family,  cultivating  in 
them  a  taste  for  the  very  best  order  of  religious 
verse." 

In  November,  1869,  the  book  was  published  under 
the  title,  "The  Sacrifice  of  Praise."  It  was  at  once 
introduced  into  the  church,  and  with  its  aid  the  regular 
committee  on  music,  with  Dr.  Murray  still  at  the 
head,  took  up  their  work  again  with  renewed  interest, 
and  especially  directed  their  attention  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  congregational  singing  to  the  fullest 
possible  extent,  f 

In  raising  additional  subscriptions  for  the  music, 
the  committee  proved  themselves  equally  zealous, 
and  for  several  years,  they  thus  provided  about 
$1,400,  for  by  this  time  the  annual  cost  of  the  music 
had  come  to  be  nearly  $4,000. 

The  singing  was  by  no  means  the  only  element  of 
public  worship  that  engaged  the  attention  of  the  ses- 
sion at  this  time.  Indeed,  in  1870,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  whether  in  general  there  were 
any  changes  that  ought  to  be  introduced  into  the 
manner  of  conducting  the  services  in  the  Brick 
Church.  We  do  not  know  what  proposals  they 
may  have  made,  except  that  at  the  suggestion  of 
their    chairman   the   gown,    which   had   been   worn 

*  "Exquisite  gems  such  as  Wesley's  'Wrestling  Jacob,'  and  Montgom- 
ery's 'Poor  wayfaring  man  of  grief,'  and  Keble's  celebrated  hymn  on  com- 
plete resignation  to  God."     Committee's  report. 

t  We  learn  that  besides  the  congregational  singing  of  psalms  and 
hymns  there  was  now  an  "opening  piece,"  sung  presumably  by  the  choir 
alone. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     327 

by  the  minister  in  Dr.  Rodgers'  day,  but  had  been 
disused  during  Dr.  Spring's  pastorate,  was  now  re- 
sumed. We  may,  perhaps,  infer  from  this  that  their 
recommendations  were  in  the  direction  of  an  in- 
creased orderHness  and  dignity  in  the  worship  of  the 
church.  It  should  be  added  that  the  manner  of  cele- 
brating the  Lord's  Supper  *  was,  during  Dr.  Mur- 
ray's pastorate,  given  careful  consideration.! 

It  was  during  this  period,  moreover,  that  certain 
changes  were  made  in  the  number  of  the  services  and 
meetings  and  in  the  time  at  which  they  were  held,  by 
which  some  of  the  customs,  still  prevailing  at  the 
present  day,  were  originated.  Thus  the  change  of 
the  hour  of  Sunday  morning  service  to  eleven  o'clock 
was  first  broached  in  1873,  "for  the  accommodation 
of  families  with  children,  Sunday-school  teachers  and 
scholars,  persons  living  at  a  distance  from  the 
church,  and  the  many  others  whose  convenience  would 
be  promoted  by  the  change."  Earlier  than  this  a 
more  radical  departure  from  established  custom  had 
been  introduced:  in  1866,  the  weekly  lecture,  which 
was  at  that  time  held  on  Tuesday  evening,  was  tem- 
porarily discontinued,  "with  a  view  to  increasing  the 
interest  and  attendance  at  the  weekly  prayer  and 
conference  meeting  on  Friday  evening."  J  A  year 
later  the  holding  of  but  a  single  meeting  between 
Sundays  was  still  further  established  as  the  accepted 
custom — it  consisted  of  "a  brief  lecture  connected 

*  After  1865,  this  Sacrament  was  administered  five  instead  of  four 
times  yearly. 

t  See  Appendix  V,  p.  543.  For  order  of  Baptismal  service  at  this  time 
see  Appendix  U,  p.  542. 

X  Although  the  nights  had  been  changed,  these  were,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, the  same  two  week-day  services  as  were  held  in  Dr.  Rodgers'  time. 


328  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

with  a  prayer-meeting,  to  continue  for  one  hour  and 
a  quarter,"  *  — and  by  1869,  when  the  meeting  was 
held,  as  at  present,  on  Wednesday  evening,  it  was 
referred  to  as  "the  weekly  church  meeting," as  though 
a  second  week-day  service  were  not  so  much  as 
thought  of. 

Among  the  changes  which  during  Dr.  Murray's 
pastorate  marked  the  beginning  of  the  present  era, 
one  of  the  most  important  concerned  the  activities 
then  commenced  among  the  women  of  the  congrega- 
tion. In  Christian  work  of  every  sort  the  part  played 
to-day  by  the  women  of  our  churches  is  so  important 
that  we  find  it  difficult  to  conceive  what  the  condi- 
tions would  be,  were  they  to  become  inactive.  Yet  it 
must  be  remembered  that  this  great  importance  of 
women's  work  is  a  very  modern  development.  When 
Dr.  Murray  came  to  the  Brick  Church  the  women  had 
only  begun  to  discover  their  powers,  but  before  his 
departure  their  work  had  assumed  definite  shape 
and  had  already  acquired  a  place  of  unquestionable 
prominence  and  practical  value  in  the  church's  pro- 
gramme. 

Long  before  this  time  women  had,  of  course,  been 
active  in  Sunday-school  work  and  their  benevolent 
impulses  had  no  doubt  found  abundant  expression 
in  personal  charities,  and  to  some  extent  in  money- 
raising  auxiliaries  of  the  prominent  missionary  and 
benevolent   organizations   of   the   church   at   large,f 

*  It  was  held  on  Tuesdays  that  year. 

t  A  "Female  Auxihary  Tract  Association  of  the  Brick  Church,"  for 
example,  had  been  in  existence  before  the  middle  of  the  century.  The 
account  book  of  the  treasurer  of  this  organization  for  the  years  1837  to 
186 J ,  is  preserved  in  the  church  archives.  Its  subscription  lists  constitute 
an  interesting  roll  of  the  givers  and  workers  among  the  Brick  Church 
women  for  that  period. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     329 

but  for  women  alone  the  only  distinctive  organized 
work  in  the  Brick  Church  had  been  a  struggling  little 
"Dorcas  Society,"  concerning  which  but  few  facts 
have  come  down  to  us.  We  do  not  even  know  when 
it  was  founded.  Its  chief  purpose,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, was  to  provide  garments  for  the  poor ;  but  occa- 
sionally, we  are  told,  it  also  superintended  the  sending 
of  a  home  missionary  box.  Aside  from  these  scanty 
facts,  the  only  thing  we  know  about  the  Dorcas  So- 
ciety is  connected  with  the  burning  of  Dr.  Hoge's 
house  one  night  in  February,  1860. 

It  seems  that  on  that  occasion  the  entire  clothing  of 
Dr.  Hoge's  family  was  either  burnt,  or  spoiled  by  the 
water  used  in  extinguishing  the  fire,  so  that  the  chil- 
dren were  forced  to  stay  in  bed  till  clothes  could  be 
borrowed  for  them  from  the  neighbors.  But  the 
Dorcas  Society  came  to  the  rescue.  The  members 
were  promptly  called  together  and  worked  to  such 
good  purpose  that  by  Sunday  the  minister's  family 
had  all  been  refitted  and  could  appear  in  church 
with  new  clothes  of  their  own.  * 

In  January,  1869,  some  of  those  who  had  been 
active  in  this  society  decided  that,  by  adopting  a 
somewhat  different  plan  of  work,  they  could  accom- 
plish a  great  deal  more  good.  If,  instead  of  making 
with  their  own  hands  the  garments  to  be  given  away 
in  charity,  they  employed  for  that  purpose  poor 
women  who  needed  work  and  especially  work  that 
could  be  done  at  home,  it  was  evident  that  the  value 
of  the  benevolence  would  be  doubled.  This  plan  was 
already  in  use  in  a  society  in  the  Marble  Collegiate 

*  These  facts  are  taken  from  a  letter  written  by  Miss  Sophia  Ely  in 
1902. 


330  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Church  on  Twenty-ninth  Street,  and  the  women  of 
the  Brick  Church  now  adopted  it,  forming  for  that 
purpose  what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  the  Em- 
ployment Society.*  For  some  time  the  old  Dorcas 
Society  continued  its  work  in  cooperation  with  the 
newer  organization.  The  latest  mention  of  it  was 
in  April,  1871. 

The  work  of  the  Employment  Society,  which  was 
carefully  systematized,  is  worthy  of  being  described 
in  some  detail.  The  first  necessity  was  to  secure 
capital  for  running  the  business — for  "business"  is 
the  proper  word  to  use:  the  society  was  really  en- 
gaged in  a  small  way  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
clothing.  The  needed  capital  was  provided  by  an- 
nual subscriptions  from  the  members,  by  donations, 
and,  after  the  work  had  been  started,  by  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales. 

A  certain  portion  of  the  money  was  then  expended 
for  materials,  and  the  records  show  that  the  buying 
committee  were  constantly  on  the  alert  to  lay  in  their 
supply  when  prices  were  most  favorable.  The  rest 
of  the  money  was  set  aside  for  the  payment  of  the 
women  employed  to  do  the  sewing. 

Meantime  the  garments  must  be  cut  out,  and  for 
this   purpose    the    cutting    committee    met    in    the 

*  The  following  were  the  members  whose  names  appear  in  the  records 
of  the  first  year:  Mrs.  Barbour,  Beebe,  Blakeman,  Bonnett,  Brown, 
Buchan,  Buchanan,  Burr,  Church,  Clark,  Comstock,  Corning,  Downer, 
Dunning,  Oilman,  Holbrook,  Holden,  Lathrop,  Morgan,  Murray,  Odell, 
Baton,  Shedd,  Stafford,  Talmage,  Tucker,  Watson,  White;  Misses  Bon- 
nett, Donaldson,  Houghton,  Lord,  Parish,  Phelps,  Smith,  Vernon,  Vose. 
To  Mrs.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  who  was  first  directress  for  several  years  from 
the  time  of  the  society's  organization,  much  of  the  success  of  the  society 
was  due.  The  minutes  of  the  board  of  managers  from  the  beginning  till 
the  present  time  have  been  carefully  preserved. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"    331 

church  rooms  on  Friday  mornings,  while  many  of  the 
members  continued  this  work  at  home  between  the 
meetings.  Frequently  from  three  to  four  hundred 
garments  would  be  cut  in  a  single  month. 

The  employment  of  women  to  do  the  sewing  was 
managed  by  a  system  of  "permits."  Each  annual 
subscriber  had  the  privilege  of  sending,  in  the  course 
of  a  season,  a  certain  number  of  applicants.  If  the 
subscriber's  recommendation  and  her  guarantee  of 
the  return  of  the  materials  were  satisfactory,  a  permit 
was  issued  which  entitled  the  applicant  to  receive 
work  from  the  distributing  committee.  When  fin- 
ished, the  work  was  brought  back  and  submitted  for 
inspection.  Here  was  encountered  one  of  the  chief 
difficulties:  the  women  were  often  found  to  be  far 
from  skilful  with  their  needles.  Various  expedi- 
ents for  solving  the  problem  thus  created  were  pro- 
posed from  time  to  time,  such  as,  the  absolute 
refusal  of  work  to  persons  not  competent;  the  re- 
quirement that  work  be  done  over  when  not  satis- 
factory; the  imposing  of  some  sort  of  penalty  upon 
the  sewer  or  upon  the  subscriber  who  had  recom- 
mended her;  or  the  offering  of  some  sort  of  reward, 
especially  the  promise  of  double  the  amount  of  work, 
to  those  whose  work  was  well  done.  But  the  happiest 
expedient  attempted  was  one  which  responded  to  the 
need  by  introducing,  in  addition  to  the  society's  des- 
ignated work  of  "employment,"  some  features  prop- 
erly belonging  to  a  sewing-school. 

A  concrete  instance  may  be  given.  At  a  meeting 
in  January,  1871,  the  subject  of  poor  sewing  "was 
enlarged  upon,"  the  minutes  tell  us,  and  in  the  course 
of  the  discussion  "one  girl  was  alluded  to  as  a  great 


332  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

object  of  charity,  but  a  very  poor  sewer."  There- 
upon, the  record  continues,  *'Mrs.  Odell  cut  the  dis- 
cussion short  by  kindly  offering  to  give  her  instruc- 
tion in  her  own  house,  to  see  if  she  showed  any 
disposition  to  improve  under  proper  teaching."  It  is 
pleasant  to  read  in  the  minutes  of  the  next  meeting 
that  Mrs.  Odell's  pupil  already  showed  "decided 
improvement." 

When  the  garments  had  been  completed  and  the 
women  paid  for  their  work,  the  next  problem  was  to 
dispose  of  the  finished  product.  Occasionally,  when 
a  large  stock  had  accumulated,  donations  were  made 
to  the  Dorcas  Society  or  other  similar  organizations, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  goods  were  sold.  The  prices 
were  adjusted  in  accordance  with  a  double  standard: 
members  of  the  society  and  their  friends  paid  the 
full,  or  nearly  the  full,  cost  of  materials  and  making ; 
while  to  the  poor  and  to  charitable  societies  garments 
were  sold  at  a  small  percentage  of  the  cost-price. 

In  order  to  give  some  conception  of  the  amount  of 
work  accomplished  by  this  useful  organization,  the 
results  of  a  single  season  chosen  at  random,  that  of 
1871-1872,  may  be  noted.  Including  the  work  done 
by  the  members  during  the  summer  months  two 
thousand  and  ninety  garments  were  cut  out,  and  by 
the  end  of  the  season  all  but  one  hundred  and  eight 
of  these  had  been  finished.  The  sewers,  who  ranged 
from  forty  to  seventy  in  number,  had  been  paid 
$911.25.  Garments  sold  had  brought  in  nearly  $900, 
and  over  $400  had  been  received  in  subscriptions 
and  donations.  As  the  years  passed  all  these  figures 
were  materially  increased. 

Out  of  the  Employment  Society  there  grew  another 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     333 

organization.  In  order  to  follow  up,  in  a  more  dis- 
tinctly personal  and  religious  way,  the  work  which 
the  society  was  doing,  a  Bible  reader,  or  visitor,  had 
been  employed.  Miss  Margaret  Griffiths,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  visit  among  the  poor  women  of  the  mission. 
In  the  course  of  her  visitations  Miss  Griffiths  found 
a  great  many  sick  children  whose  need  appealed  to 
her  most  strongly,  and  to  the  women  of  the  Brick 
Church,  also,  when  she  brought  her  report  to  them. 

The  proposition  was  made  that  the  Brick  Church 
children  be  organized  to  meet  this  emergency,  under 
the  direction,  of  course,  of  their  elders.  The  result 
was  the  Children's  Society,  which  flourished  for 
many  years,  and  did  an  excellent  work,  not  only  for 
the  sick  children  on  the  west  side,  but  also  for  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  Brick  Church,  whom  it  trained 
in  Christian  service.* 

At  the  meetings  of  the  society  the  girls  were  set  to 
work  at  making  simple  children's  garments,  and  the 
boys,  who  are,  it  must  be  confessed,  somewhat  hard 
to  make  useful  under  such  circumstances,  were  fain 
to  be  content  with  making  scrap-books.  Besides  this, 
a  good  deal  of  money  was  raised,  and  with  it  a  work 
begun  which  was  destined  to  extend  far  beyond  the 
sphere  to  which  it  was  originally  limited.  We  shall 
in  a  subsequent  chapter  have  a  glimpse  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Society  during  the  next  pastorate,  and  at  a  still 
later  time  shall  learn  how,  in  dying,  it  gave  birth  to 
another  organization  which  remains  and  works  to 
the  present  day. 

*  The  originators  of  this  plan  were  Mrs.  Norman  White  and  Mrs.  James 
O.  Murray.  Others  who  aided  them  were  Mrs.  Alexander  McLean,  Miss 
Mary  M.  Roberts,  Mrs.  John  E.  Parsons,  Mrs.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd  and  Miss 
Houghton. 


334  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

In  this  account  of  the  activities  of  Dr.  Murray's 
pastorate,  which  mark  the  beginning  of  the  present 
era,  we  come  finally  to  the  benevolences,  which,  with 
the  growing  wealth  of  the  time  had  so  increased  in 
amount  as  to  render  the  old  schedules  quite  inade- 
quate, and  which  were  now  reorganized  on  a  modern 
basis.  The  five  annual  offerings  arranged  in  1838 
had,  with  some  changes  in  the  objects,  continued  un- 
til 1864,  when  a  sixth  offering  was  added;  but  two 
years  later  the  number  was  increased  to  nine,  and  in 
1870  there  were  ten  stated  objects  of  Brick  Church 
benevolence.*  Except  for  the  division  of  some  of 
these  into  two  or  more,  and  the  addition  of  two 
others, f  the  present  schedule  is  practically  the  same. 

In  1871,  in  response  to  a  recommendation  of  the 
Presbytery,  an  entirely  different  system  was  tempor- 
arily adopted,  the  so-called  "plan  of  weekly  giving," 
by  which  the  members  were  invited  to  pledge  a  stated 
sum  for  each  Sunday  throughout  the  year,  the  entire' 
amount  so  received  being  then  apportioned  by  the 
session  among  the  various  causes.  For  a  time  the 
results  of  this  change  were  highly  satisfactory.  In 
October,  1872,  for  example,  it  was  reported  that  "the 
aggregate  contributions  for  the  past  year  have  con- 
siderably exceeded  those  of  the  preceding  one,  al- 
though the  new  system  was  not  inaugurated  until  the 
middle  of  December."  But  at  the  end  of  four  years' 
time,  when  the  excellence  of  novelty  had  worn  off,  it 

*  These  were,  Church  Erection,  N.  Y.  Bible  Society,  Brick  Church  Mis- 
sion, Board  of  Freedmen,  Domestic  Missions,  Board  of  Education,  For- 
eign Missions,  Aged  and  Infirm  Clergy  Fund,  City  Missions,  Board  of  Pub- 
lication. These  offerings  were  taken  on  the  third  Sunday  of  each  month 
except  July  and  August. 

t  For  Hospitals  and  Church  Federation. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"     335 

was  felt  that  for  the  Brick  Church  the  old  arrange- 
ment was,  on  the  whole,  more  successful,  and  the 
schedule  of  ten  specific  annual  collections  was  re- 
sumed. 

The  spirit  in  which  the  church  at  this  time  ap- 
proached this  whole  subject  of  giving  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  brief  address  on  the  subject  of  "Chris- 
tian Beneficence"  which  the  session  prepared  in  1865 
and  published  in  the  "catalogues"  of  the  congrega- 
tion for  1866  and  subsequent  years.  In  this  little 
publication,  it  may  be  added,  no  other  department  of 
the  church's  life,  except  the  duty  of  Christian  disci- 
pleship  as  a  whole,  was  given  so  much  space. 

"That  our  prosperity  as  a  church,"  the  session 
declare,  "is  closely  connected  with  the  use  of  prop- 
erty for  religious  objects,  is  apparent  from  the  Word 
of  God.  As  an  explanation  of  our  frequent  public 
contributions  in  the  church,  members  are  here  re- 
minded of  first  principles  made  known  in  the  Script- 
ures." 

They  then  proceed  to  show  that  the  religion  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  inseparably  connected  with 
"statedly  recurring  tithes  and  offerings,  so  that  no 
conscientious  Hebrew  could  fulfil  the  duties  of  the 
sanctuary  without  necessarily  becoming  a  systematic 
giver";  that  the  prophetic  teaching  of  later  Israel 
was  no  less  emphatic  on  this  subject;  that  "the  pre- 
cepts and  example  of  the  Saviour  confirmed  all  previ- 
ous teaching  as  to  the  importance  of  alms-giving, 
and  gave  assurance  of  great  spiritual  benefit  result- 
ing therefrom,"  and  finally  that  "apostolic  authority 
enjoins  Christian  liberality  as  a  grace  in  which 
Christians  were  to  abound." 


336  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Therefore,  they  conclude,  "  regarding  alnis-giving 
as  an  imperative  Christian  duty,  an  exalted  Christian 
privilege,  a  means  of  grace,  and  an  act  of  worship, 
the  session  of  the  Brick  Church  recommend  all  its 
members  to  accord  to  Christian  beneficence  a  high 
place  in  their  Christian  life,  and  to  see  that  it  be  un- 
ostentatious, cheerful,  systematic  and  prayerful." 

That  this  appeal  of  the  session  to  the  spirit  of  gen- 
erous giving  in  the  people  met  with  a  large  response, 
the  statistics  of  the  offerings  for  these  years  plainly 
testify.  Though  not  so  eloquent,  in  the  form  of  ex- 
pression, as  the  words  of  the  church  oflBcers  just 
quoted,  the  figures  reported  by  the  treasurer  from 
year  to  year  did  certainly  possess  a  certain  eloquence 
of  their  own.  In  1865,  the  people  had  given  about 
$19,000,  a  very  large  figure,  it  was  thought  at  the  time, 
and  more  than  twice  as  much  as  had  ever  been  given 
in  any  one  year  up  to  three  years  previous.  But  in 
1866,  the  next  year,  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church 
gave  $61,550.  The  special  work  *  which  caused 
such  an  amazing  increase  at  this  time  will  form  the 
subject  of  the  next  chapter,  and  for  the  present  it  is 
necessary  only  to  notice  the  amount  contributed. 
The  next  year,  when  the  same  special  demand  con- 
tinued, the  contributions  reached  almost  the  same 
figure,  amounting  to  over  $59,000.  This  was  re- 
markable enough,  but  when,  after  the  special  need 
of  those  two  years  has  been  met  and  left  behind,  the 
offerings  continue,  in  1868  and  1869,  to  aggregate  as 
much  or  more,  we  become  aware  of  a  new  standard 
of  giving  adopted  by  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church. 

*The  building  of  the  Brick  Church  Mission  on  West  Thirty-fifth 
Street. 


"THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH"    337 

After  that  there  was,  indeed,  some  falling  off,  but 
even  so,  there  was  no  return  to  the  old  low  figure  of 
1865.  The  congregation  had  learned  how  much 
they  could  give,  if  they  chose,  and  were  plainly  dis- 
posed to  take  a  large  part  in  the  religious  and  philan- 
thropic work  of  their  day. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

A  WIDER  HORIZON:    1857-1875 

"  When  I  ceased  my  active  connection  with  the  mission,  I  felt,  and  I  had  occa- 
sion frequently  to  say,  that  I  looked  upon  the  twenty  years  of  my  service  there  as 
the  most  profitable  of  any  work  in  which  I  had  been  engaged.  I  doubt  if  there  is 
any  work  in  this  city  which  bears  larger  or  more  satisfactory  fruit  than  this." — 
John  E.  Parsons,  from  an  address  m  "The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work,"  pp. 
43  f. 

"Behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door." — Revelation  3:8. 

OF  all  that  was  accomplished  during  Dr.  Mur- 
ray's pastorate  nothing  can  be  compared  in 
importance  with  the  opening  in  1867,  of  the 
Brick  Church  Mission  Chapel.  The  work  for  which 
this  building  was  provided  has  already  been  several 
times  alluded  to  in  this  history,  for  it  had  been  started 
ten  years  before  the  date  just  mentioned.  We  must 
now  turn  back  to  trace  its  progress  through  those 
earlier  years.  It  is  fortunately  possible  to  tell  the 
story  almost  entirely  in  the  words  of  those  who  were 
themselves  the  foremost  workers  in  the  enterprise.  * 

*  An  address  of  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons,  first  superintendent  of  the  Brick 
Church  Branch  Sunday-school,  delivered  November  27th,  1905,  and  pub- 
lished in  "The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work,"  N.  Y.,  1906.  Also  a 
minute  of  the  Brick  Church  session  in  1866,  on  the  origin  of  the  mission, 
printed  in  the  same  pamphlet.  It  was  signed  by  Dr.  Murray  as  pastor, 
Mr.  John  E.  Parsons,  whose  controlling  influence  in  the  work  will  be  made 
abundantly  evident  in  the  succeeding  narrative,  and  Mr.  George  de  Forest 
Lord,  another  devoted  laborer  in  the  school  "  who  taught  the  boy's  Bible 
class,"  says  Mr.  Parsons,  "  I  think  down  to  the  time  of  his  death,  certainly 
down  to  the  time  when  I  ceased  to  be  superintendent  [1877],  and  toward 
whom,  during  all  his  life,  I  entertained  feelings  of  the  warmest  and  most 
affectionate  regard." 

338 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  330 

"In  the  winter  of  1857-1858,"  we  are  told — and  we 
should  remember  that  the  present  Brick  Church  was 
not  then  completed,  "by  a  simultaneous  impulse, 
two  enterprises,  one  at  No.  654  Sixth  Avenue  and  the 
other  at  No.  1272  Broadway,  were  started  for  the 
purpose  of  furnishing  religious  instruction  on  the 
Sabbath  to  the  children  and  young  persons  of  the 
destitute  section  of  the  city  lying  to  the  westward  of 
the  Sixth  Avenue.  The  former  was  principally  sus- 
tained by  members  of  [the]  Brick  Church  and  of  the 
church  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Nineteenth 
Street,  *  while  the  latter  owed  its  origin  mainly  to 
persons  connected  with  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
Church,  f  though  each  extended  an  earnest  invitation 
for  aid  to  all  those  connected  with  the  churches  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city  who  felt  a  desire  to  assist  in 
the  Master's  work.  A  description  of  the  origin  of  one 
will  explain  the  origin  of  both.  It  was  in  literal  obe- 
dience to  the  injunction,  'Go  out  into  the  highways 
and  hedges  and  compel  them  to  come  in,  that  my 
house  may  be  filled.'"  J 

"In  October,  1857,  six  or  eight  young  men,  with 
more  faith  and  fervor  than  financial  strength,  were 
impelled  to  start  in  this  part  of  the  city  a  mission 
school.  .  .  .  On  a  bright  Sunday  afternoon  one  of  the 
number  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  stairs, 
while  the  others  went  out  to  bring  in  boys  from  the 
street.  First  came  one,  then  a  second,  then  two  or 
three  more.  Then  there  was  a  rush,  and  the  room 
was  taken  possession  of  by  a  considerable  number  of 

*  The  present  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

t  Then  in  Fourteenth  Street  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  avenues. 

I  "Session  Minutes." 


340  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  young  roughs  of  the  neighborhood.  They  had 
been  found  playing  ball,*  had  accepted  an  invitation, 
with  the  idea  that  more  amusement  might  be  afforded 
in  the  school  than  in  the  street,  and  they,  with  the 
others  who  had  preceded  them,  formed  the  nucleus 
of  what  later  on  was  to  become  the  Brick  Church 
Mission. 

"They  very  quickly  discovered  that  an  essential 
feature  of  the  fun  was  to  obey  orders.  The  first  les- 
son on  that  line  was  taught  that  afternoon.  It  was 
followed  up  on  succeeding  Sundays,  until  there  was 
established  as  a  characteristic  of  the  school  .  .  . 
absolute  good  order."  f 

"The  twin  movements  continued  separate  until 
the  spring  of  1859,  [when]  it  was  deemed  by  those 
having  them  in  charge  (they  happening  to  be  on 
terms  of  personal  friendship)  desirable  to  coalesce. 
The  large  hall  J  at  the  north-east  corner  of  Broadway 
and  Thirty-second  Street  was  accordingly  engaged, 
and  there,  on  a  pleasant  Sunday  morning  in  the 
month  of  March,  1859,  teachers  and  scholars  met."  <§. 
From  the  time  of  this  union  two  sessions  of  the 
school  were  held  each  Sunday,  one  in  the  morning, 
the  other  in  the  afternoon.  Thus  the  children  were 
fully  provided  for. 

But  it  was  soon  found  that  another  class  of  people 
had  been  drawn  within  reach  of  the  influence  of  the 
work,  for  which  the  school  did  not  provide  at  all. 

*  "  And  finally  a  company  of  boya  found  playing  at  ball,  who  at  once 
contributed  some  fifteen  or  twenty  hardened  little  Sabbath-breakers." 
"Session  Minutes." 

t  Narrative  of  Mr.  Parsons. 

X  On  the  third  story. 

$  "Session  Minutes." 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  341 

These  were  "the  parents  and  adult  friends  of  the 
children."  So  good  an  opportunity  as  this,  for  en- 
larging the  scope  of  the  enterprise,  was  not  to  be  lost, 
and  accordingly  "the  services  of  a  faithful  mission- 
ary," the  Rev.  John  Kimball,*  "were  secured,  and  in 
the  succeeding  winter  [1859-1860],  a  church  service 
on  Sunday  afternoons  f  was  started."  f 

It  will  be  observed  that  during  all  this  time  the 
work  was  entirely  independent,  connected  neither 
with  the  Brick  Church  nor  with  any  other,  except 
through  the  individual  church  members  who  carried 
it  on  and  contributed  to  its  support.  The  Brick 
Church  provided  such  devoted  workers  as  Mr. 
Thomas  C.  M.  Baton  and  Mr.  A.  Gifford  Agnew, 
but  the  superintendent,  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons,  though 
in  later  years  so  closely  identified  with  the  Brick 
Church,  was  then  a  member  of  the  Scotch  Church, 
and  it  was  from  two  of  his  fellow-members  there  that 
a  considerable  part  of  the  money  for  the  school's  sup- 
port during  its  early  years  was  derived.  Mr.  Parsons 
himself  tells  us  in  a  peculiarly  interesting  manner 
how  this  came  about. 

"I  received  one  day,"  he  says,  "a  note  from  a 
member  [of  the  Scotch  Church]  asking  me  to  call. 
I  did  so.  He  began  to  speak  about  the  school,  and 
asked  how  we  proposed  to  meet  its  expenses.    In  the 

*  See  Appendix  Q,  p.  535. 

t  "As  the  child  is  father  to  the  man,  so  the  school  was  parent  to  the 
church.  The  need  of  a  congregation  for  adult  worshippers  became  appar- 
ent as  soon  as  the  school  was  fairly  started.  Some  assembly  for  worship 
must  be  available  for  parents  interested  in  the  work  through  their  children, 
some  household  of  faith  into  which  scholars  could  be  received  when  they 
were  ready  to  make  their  personal  profession  of  the  religion  of  Jesus."  The 
Rev.  James  M.  Farr  in  "The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work."  p.  16. 

X  "Session  Minutes." 


342  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

enthusiasm  of  youth  I  expressed  strong  confidence 
that  what  we  could  not  do  ourselves  would  in  some 
way  be  provided,  we  did  not  know  exactly  how  or 
from  what  source.  He  asked  what  our  rent  then 
was.  I  told  him  $600  a  year.  He  said  he  thought 
that  would  be  about  his  share.  And  he  went  on  to  say 
that  (although  he  would  make  no  promise  for  the 
future),  until  I  received  notice  to  the  contrary,  I 
would,  on  the  first  of  every  month,  receive  his  check 
for  $50. 

"Within  a  year  or  two  he  died.  Not  long  subse- 
quently I  received  a  line  from  his  brother  asking  me 
to  call.  I  called.  He  told  me  that  in  looking  over  his 
brother's  accounts  and  papers,  he  found  that  once  a 
month  I  was  receiving  this  payment  of  $50.  He  asked 
me  to  explain  what  it  was  for.  I  did  so.  In  almost 
the  same  words  which  had  been  used  by  his  brother, 
he  said  that  (although  he  would  make  no  promise  for 
the  future),  until  I  learned  to  the  contrary  I  would 
receive  on  the  first  of  every  month,  toward  the  ex- 
penses of  the  school,  his  check  for  $50,  and  for  a  year 
or  more  it  was  sent.  I  refer  to  this,  not  only  because 
it  shows  how  was  justified  the  trust  in  Providence 
upon  which  we  had  relied,  but  particularly  because 
Mr.  Samuel  Cochran  and  Mr.  Thomas  Cochran,  the 
two  brothers,  were  the  great  uncles  of  Mr.  William 
D.  Barbour,  and  it  was  not  long  after  this  that  there 
began  Mr.  Barbour's  connection  with  the  school 
which,  to  its  very  great  benefit,  has  lasted  down  to 
the  present  time." 

And  here  it  is  pleasant  to  record  that  three  others 
among  the  present  workers  in  this  school,  the  Misses 
Hatfield  and  their  sister,  Mrs.  Alexander  McLean, 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  343 

have  served  for  a  term  of  years  only  slightly  shorter 
than  that  of  Mr.  Barbour.  They  entered  the  work 
in  1864  and  1865,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  estimate 
the  value  of  their  devoted  service  in  the  more  than 
forty  years  that  have  since  passed. 

But  to  return  to  the  progress  of  the  work:  at  the 
same  time  that  the  school  was  showing  a  tendency, 
as  has  been  related,  to  grow  beyond  itself  into  a 
church,  its  own  members  were  rapidly  increasing,  so 
that  larger  quarters,  especially  for  the  accommodation 
of  "  a  numerously  attended  infant  class,"  *  were  found 
to  be  necessary.  In  response  to  this  demand  "the 
three  upper  stories  of  the  building  No.  1285  Broad- 
way" were  obtained,  and  thither  the  mission  moved 
in  the  month  of  April,  1860.t 

"The  standing  of  the  school  was  by  this  time 
assured.  There  had  gathered  together  a  large  corps 
of  teachers,  all  young,  all  personal  friends,  and 
all  devoted  to  their  work.  There  had  become  es- 
tablished the  morning  Sunday-school  service,  pre- 
ceded by  a  short  prayer-meeting,  the  afternoon  Sun- 
day-school service,  succeeded  by  periodical  teach- 
ers' meetings,  a  Wednesday-evening  service,  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  students  from  Union  Seminary, 
a  preaching  service," |  on  Sunday  evenings.  "The 
enterprise  as  thus  constituted  continued  until  Novem- 
ber, 1862,  without  special  church  connection,  and 
sustained  by  the  voluntary  efforts  of  those  engaged 
in  it."  § 

*  "Session  Minutes." 

t  Between  Thirty-fourth  and  Thirty-fifth  streets,  where  the  store  of 
R.  H.  Macy  and  Co.  now  stands. 
X  Narrative  of  Mr.  Parsons. 
$  "Session  Minutes." 


344  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

"At  this  time  there  was  being  agitated  in  the 
Brick  Church  the  question  of  establishing  a  mission 
school  of  its  own.  It  meant,"  says  Mr.  Parsons, 
"that  there  would  be  withdrawn  from  our  school  a 
considerable  number  of  valuable  teachers,  male  and 
female.  It  meant  that  there  might  be  two  weak  mis- 
sions in  near  competition,  instead  of  one  strong  mis- 
sion." The  result  was  an  invitation  to  Mr.  Parsons' 
school  to  become  the  mission  of  the  Brick  Church. 

This  plan  had,  indeed,  been  under  consideration 
for  some  time,  .and  the  church  had  more  than  once 
extended  this  invitation  in  an  informal  way;  but  in 
1862,  the  matter  was  taken  up  with  a  more  definite 
purpose,  and  in  November  of  that  year  the  Brick 
Church  offi<^ially  assumed  charge  of  the  enterprise. 
The  relation  thus  established  was  well  defined  in  the 
following  minute  prepared  by  Mr.  Daniel  Lord  and 
adopted  by  the  session  in  April,  1863:  "The  session, 
having  had  in  consideration  the  relation  of  the  mis- 
sion school  lately  patronized  by  the  congregation, 
express  their  view  of  that  relation  as  follows:  That 
by  their  pastors,  elders,  and  other  ofiicers  of  this 
church  they  will  foster  and  favor  it  in  every  way, 
and  will  favor  its  aid  and  support  by  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  people.  They  will  visit  it,  or  see  to  its 
visitation  by  proper  officers  and  delegates,  and  will 
generally  supervise  and  promote  its  welfare.  That 
the  session,  on  the  other  hand,  expect  that  their 
counsels  and  advice  will  be  deferred  to,  and  that  be- 
tween the  school  and  those  engaged  in  its  manage- 
ment and  government,  and  the  pastors,  elders,  dea- 
cons, and  members  of  the  church,  a  cordial,  active, 
and  hearty  cooperation  will  be  kept  up." 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  345 

During  the  first  half  year  of  this  most  profitable 
and  providential  union  the  Brick  Church  people  gave 
to  the  work  of  the  mission  $1,195,*  a  true  prophecy 
of  the  constant  and  generous  support  of  later  years. 
Immediately  the  second  story  of  the  building  which 
adjoined  the  one  already  occupied  was  secured,  and 
*'the  division  wall  sufficiently  removed  to  make  one 
larger  room."  Had  it  not  been  that  the  Civil  War, 
which  was  at  this  time  raging,  checked  the  advance 
of  every  sort  of  aggressive  enterprise,  the  mission 
would  no  doubt  have  been  provided  almost  at  once 
with  a  building  of  its  own.  That  it  was  worthy  of 
such  accommodation  had  soon  become  evident  to  all. 

The  work  was,  in  truth,  growing  in  all  directions. 
The  Saturday  morning  sewing-school,  which  was  to 
become  an  important  institution,  was  started  at  this 
time.  A  children's  prayer-meeting,  and,  a  little 
later,  a  reading-room  and  library  for  adults  were 
other  new  features.  But  especially  the  development 
toward  a  church,  to  be  the  centre- and  focus  of  the 
whole  work,  had  become  very  marked.  Mr.  Kim- 
ball, the  first  missionary,  had  been  succeeded,  in 
1862,  by  the  Rev.  A.  E.  Rulifson,  and  he,  two  years 
later,!  ^7  ^^^  Rev.  Govello  B.  Bell.  By  this  time 
Sunday  services  were  held  in  the  morning  as  well  as 
in  the  evening,  and  in  1865  it  was  proposed  that  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  celebrated 
at  the  mission  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  on 
which  it  was  celebrated  in  the  Brick  Church,  one  of 


*  The  average  annual  contribution  for  the  first  seven  years  was 
$4,194.00. 

t  In  the  interval  between  these  two,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tait  preached  for 
a  few  months. 


346  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  pastors  of  the  Brick  Church  and  the  missionary 
oflSciating. 

Of  course,  under  the  conditions  then  existing,  all 
who,  through  the  work  done  at  the  mission,  were  led 
to  a  personal  acceptance  of  Christianity,  became 
members  of  the  Brick  Church,  and  made  their  public 
profession  there;  and  until  this  time  it  had  been 
necessary  for  all  such  persons  to  go  to  the  Brick 
Church  in  order  to  receive  the  Communion.  But  the 
session,  when  the  matter  was  brought  to  their  atten- 
tion by  Mr.  Bell,  now  decided  *  that  there  were  con- 
vincing reasons  for  making  a  change.  It  was  thought 
that  the  people  of  the  mission,  coming  to  the  Brick 
Church  for  Communion  only,  felt  themselves  in  some 
degree  to  be  outsiders  and  strangers  at  a  service 
where  such  a  feeling  was  peculiarly  unfortunate,  that 
possibly  some  were  actually  deterred  from  becoming 
professed  Christians  because  of  these  conditions,  and 
that  the  effect  upon  the  regular  worshippers  at  the 
mission,  of  having  the  ordinance  administered  there, 
could  not  but  be  good.  This  important  step  toward 
the  transformation  of  the  mission  into  a  church  was 
accordingly  taken. 

In  the  winter  of  1865-1866,  the  most  pressing 
problem  connected  with  the  work  advanced  toward 
its  solution.  At  that  time  "the  great  and  general 
prosperity  which  followed  the  close  of  the  war, 
afforded  the  hope  that  success  might  attend  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  Brick  Church  to  erect  a  building 
for  its  mission,  and  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
various  services  which  had  grown  about  it."  f     A 

*  In  June,  1865. 

I  "Session  Minutes." 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  347 

committee  was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  mis- 
sion workers  themselves,  and  so  energetically  did 
they  take  up  the  task,  that  when  they  laid  their  plans 
before  the  trustees  of  the  church  in  May  of  1866, 
they  had  secured  pledges  amounting  to  $40,000,* 
and  had  actually  bought  "three  lots  on  the  south  side 
of  Thirty-fifth  Street,  west  of  Seventh  Avenue,"  f 
where  they  proposed  to  begin  building  at  once.  J 

A  year  and  a  half  later,  on  October  20th,  1867, 
the  Brick  Church  Mission  Chapel,  at  No.  228  West 
Thirty-fifth  Street,  was  dedicated.*^  The  building 
(known  in  more  recent  years  as  Christ  Church)  will 
be  well  remembered  by  many  readers  of  this  volume. 
It  was  built  of  brick,  with  light  stone  trimmings,  and 
presented  its  gable  end  to  the  street.    Below,  on  the 

*  The  pledges  for  definite  sums  amounted  to  $38,200  and  four  gentle- 
men had  promised  to  bring  it  up  to  the  figure  named  in  the  text.  The  sum 
subscribed  had  increased  to  $41,370  by  April,  1867,  while  over  $26,000 
was  added  the  next  year. 

t  In  turning  over  the  undertaking  at  this  point  to  the  trustees,  the 
committee  said:  "  It  is  thought  proper  that  the  title  shall  be  taken  in  your 
name,  that  the  fund  raised  shall  be  paid  into  and  drawn  from  your  treas- 
vu-y,  and  that  [it]  be  under  your  control,  with  no  legal  restraint  upon  you, 
and  only  on  the  honorary  obligation  (to  be  evidenced  by  suitable  entries 
in  your  minutes)  that  the  contribution  shall  never,  unless  in  view  of  cir- 
cumstances which  cannot  now  be  foreseen,  be  diverted  from  the  purpose 
for  which  it  has  been  subscribed.  The  Brick  Church  has  received  a  mis- 
sion at  the  hands  of  the  donors  represented  by  us.  Time,  which  has  worked 
such  wonderful  changes  in  the  past  of  our  city,  may  again  compel  a  re- 
moval of  the  Brick  Church.  By  this  gift  it  is  desired  that  the  trustees  shall 
feel  committed  to  the  apphcation  of  these  funds  for  the  maintenance  some- 
where of  a  Brick  Church  Mission  so  long  as  there  shall  be  a  Brick  Church." 

X  Before  the  building  began,  it  was  proposed  that  the  site  be  exchanged 
for  one  on  Thirty-seventh  Street,  and  the  trustees  were  asked  to  supply 
.  $7,500,  the  difference  in  price,  but  they  refused,  deeming  the  site  first 
chosen  to  be  preferable. 

^  A  portion  of  the  building  had,  however,  been  in  use  for  several 
months  before  this.  The  opening  of  the  Sunday-school  had  taken  place  on 
May  27th. 


348  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

street  level,  and  reached  through  three  entrances, 
was  the  church,  adjoined  by  smaller  rooms  for  church 
meetings  and  the  pastor's  study.  Four  staircases, 
one  at  each  corner  of  the  building,  ascended  to  the 
Sunday-school  room,  which  covered  the  entire  upper 
story.  Its  lofty  roof,  large  windows,  and  especially 
the  commodious  gallery  at  the  south  end,  filled  with 
the  boys  and  girls  of  Mr.  Barbour's  intermediate 
department,  made  it  a  place  that  one  remembers 
with  peculiar  pleasure. 

Not  long  after  the  new  building  was  occupied  '*the 
numbers  in  attendance  had  increased  from  the  three 
hundred  and  twenty-five  who  were  present  at  the 
opening  service  ...  to  seven  and  eight  hundred,  the 
full  capacity  of  the  hall.  The  very  first  Christmas 
festival  had  an  attendance  of  some  fifteen  hundred — 
nine  hundred  children  and  six  hundred  adults."* 
And,  by  the  way,  this  was  probably  the  very  first  time 
that  the  word  "Christmas"  was  used  officially  in 
connection  with  the  Brick  Church.  The  year  before, 
1866,  special  exercises  were,  it  is  true,  held  in  the 
mission  school  on  Sunday,  December  23d,  but  in  the 
printed  programme  it  was  carefully  described  as  "  The 
Anniversary  of  the  Brick  Church  Mission  School," 
and  not  a  word  in  the  order  of  service,  which  ap- 
peared below,  suggested  in  the  slightest  degree  the 
beautiful  story  of  Bethlehem,  f  Apparently,  however, 
the  sight  of  those  eager  children's  faces,  and  the  ex- 
perience of  their  childish  needs,  had  at  last  broken 
down  the  old  objection  to  an  observance  which  had 

*  "The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work,"  p.  10. 

t  The  hymns  were  "Saviour,  like  a  Shepherd  lead  us,"  "Jesus  loves 
me,"  "Am  I  a  soldier  of  the  Cross,"  "Jesus  paid  it  all,"  and  "Nearer,  my 
God,  to  thee." 


THK  UlUCK  CHLKCII  MISSION  CHAPEL 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  349 

been  supposed  in  earlier  years  to  be  unevangelical ; 
for  in  December,  1867,  the  children  were  invited, 
not  to  a  mere  *' Anniversary,"  but  to  a  ''Christmas 
Festival,"  and  joined  their  voices  in  singing  "This  is 
Christmas  Day"  and  "While  Shepherds  watched 
their  flocks  by  night." 

Coincident  with  the  opening  of  the  new  chapel  was 
the  coming  to  the  mission  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  J. 
Lampe,  whose  pastorate  there  was  to  continue  for 
nearly  thirty  years;  and  at  the  same  time,  another 
prerogative  of  an  independent  church  was  given  to 
his  con^repation.  It  was  then  decided  that  those  at 
the  mission  who  desired  to  make  a  profession  of  their 
faith  need  no  longer  go  to  the  Brick  Church  for  this 
purpose,  but  might  be  received  into  membership  of 
the  Brick  Church  at  the  mission  chapel;  thus  in  every- 
thing except  its  government  the  mission  became  prac- 
tically an  independent  organization. 

From  this  time  the  growth  of  the  congregation 
there,  both  in  strength  and  in  members,  was  phe- 
nomenal. Not  long  after  Mr.  Lampe  had  taken  up 
the  work,  so  many  names  of  applicants  for  church 
membership  w^ere  presented  by  him  to  the  session  of 
the  Brick  Church,  that  at  the  close  of  the  session 
meeting  the  ministers  and  elders  were  constrained  to 
unite  "in  a  season  of  special  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
his  blessing  on  the  mission." 

One  special  feature  of  the  work  at  this  time  calls 
for  particular  mention,  a  dispensary  started  in  1872. 
Like  the  sewing-school  and  the  reading-room,  already 
referred  to,  this  was  an  early  indication  of  the  need 
of  various  forms  of  activity  supplementary  to  the 
purely  spiritual.    This  dispensary,  for  the  assistance 


350  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

and  relief  of  the  sick  poor  of  the  church  was,  the  ses- 
sion records  tell  us,  "  in  charge  of  Dr.  E.  D.  Morgan, 
Jr.,  who  had  generously  tendered  his  services  in  con- 
nection therewith. "  *  This  work  was  continued  at  the 
mission  for  two  years. 

Meanwhile,  the  Sunday-school  which  had  been 
from  the  beginning,  and  continued  to  be,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  work,  was  enjoying  great  prosperity.  For 
this  it  was  indebted,  under  God,  to  the  unselfish  de- 
votion of  the  workers  and  especially  to  Mr.  John  E. 
Parsons,  who,  during  all  these  years  and  until  1877, 
was  at  its  head.  "For  twenty  years  he  has  occupied 
that  post,"  said  the  session,  in  reluctantly  accepting 
his  resignation,  "He  has  been  enabled  by  the  good 
providence  of  the  Head  of  the  Church  to  gather 
around  him  a  devoted  band  of  Christian  workers. 
By  the  inspiration  derived  from  his  own  energetic 
leadership  these  teachers  formed  and  maintained  one 
of  the  most  extensive  and  flourishing  missions  in  the 
city.  The  regularity,  devotion,  and  wise  management 
of  the  superintendent  were  exemplary  to  all  asso- 
ciated with  him,  and  the  estimate  which  the  friends 
of  the  mission  have  formed,  during  a  long  contin- 
uance of  years,   of    Mr.  Parsons'  work,  has   been 

*  In  a  memorial  address  on  the  life  of  Dr.  Morgan,  delivered  by  Dr.  C. 
R.  Agnew  before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York,  the  fol- 
lowing reference  is  made  to  this  enterprise:  Dr.  Morgan  "graduated  from 
Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  in  1871.  He  soon  opened  an  office  on 
the  west  side  of  the  city,  near  the  quarters  of  the  poor,  and  from  that  mo- 
ment until  broken  down  in  health,  in  the  spring  of  1879,  devoted  himself, 
as  the  writer  of  this  very  well  knows,  to  the  unpaid  care  of  the  sick  poor. 
I  take  back  that  word  '  unpaid.'  He  got  his  reward;  for  although  he,  with 
exemplary  reticence  and  meekness,  tried  to  hide  his  beneficence  from  the 
gaze  and  applause  of  his  fellow-men,  it  was  seen,  we  must  believe,  by  One 
who  never  allows  a  cup  of  cold  water  even  to  be  given,  in  true  charity,  to 
a  sufferer  without  a  note  in  his  book  of  remembrance." 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  351 

heightened  by  the  consideration  that  it  was  sustained 
throughout  the  severe  and  growing  pressure  of  pro- 
fessional duties."  During  this  whole  period,  we  are 
reminded  by  the  present  pastor  of  Christ  Church, 
"the  school  met  in  both  morning  and  afternoon  ses- 
sions. These  long  years  of  exacting  service,  the  many 
hours  of  the  Sabbaths  which  he  used,  not  for  rest, 
but  for  the  Master's  service,  the  energy  and  intelli- 
gence with  which  he  directed  the  work  of  the  school, 
should  insure  to  Mr.  Parsons  a  grateful  memory 
among  the  people  of  Christ  Church,  while  his  exam- 
ple of  consecrated  service  should  be  an  inspiration  to 
us  all."*  For  the  subsequent  development  of  this 
whole  enterprise,  we  must  wait  until  we  reach  a  later 
chapter  of  the  history. 

In  January,  1875,  Dr.  Murray  expressed  his  desire 
to  resign  from  the  Brick  Church  pastorate  that  he 
might  accept  a  call  to  the  Chair  of  Rhetoric  and  Eng- 
lish Literature  in  Princeton  College.  The  affection 
with  which  the  congregation  regarded  him  was  very 
deep,  and  they  had  learned  to  prize  very  highly  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  quality  of  his  ministrations. 
One  or  two  concrete  facts  will  serve  to  suggest  the 
esteem  with  which  he  was  regarded.  In  1868,  when 
he  had  been  pastor  but  three  years,  his  salary  was 
raised  to  $8,000,f  a  very  emphatic  indication  of  the 

*  '-The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work,"  p.  11. 

t  It  will  be  interesting  to  note,  as  an  indication  of  the  make-up  of  the 
church  at  this  time,  tlie  names  of  those  present  at  the  meeting  of  men  of 
the  congregation  at  which  this  increase  was  voted.  They  were;  Hon.  E. 
D.  Morgan,  Messrs.  White,  Ely,  Oilman,  Dunning,  Nixon,  Bennet,  Josce- 
lyn.  Black,  Griswold,  Parsons,  Comstock,  West,  ICnapp,  Paton,  Spofford, 
Downer,  Sperry,  Faxon,  Parish,  Hull  and  Lord. 


352  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

value  that  was  placed  upon  his  services.  In  the  next 
year  another  act  of  the  congregation  showed  with 
equal  clearness  their  personal  attachment  to  him. 
They  gave  him,  on  their  own  initiation,  a  leave  of 
absence  for  five  months  that  he  might  cross  the  ocean 
"for  purposes  of  culture  and  relaxation";  and  as  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Spring,  many  years  before,  his  depart- 
ure was  made  the  occasion  of  expressing  in  words 
the  affection  of  the  congregation.  *  It  was  impossi- 
ble they  said,  to  express  fully  "the  feeling  of  attach- 
ment, respect,  and  confidence  with  which  our  people 
are  most  closely  bound  to  you.  We  truly  compose 
but  one  Christian  family,  guided,  as  we  believe,  by 
God  through  means  of  your  ministry,  on  which  a 
great  blessing  has  been  bestowed." 

As  the  years  passed,  these  sentiments  were  still 
further  strengthened,  and  it  is  evident  from  the 
records,  that  his  friends  of  the  Brick  Church  learned 
with  sincere  sorrow  of  his  proposed  resignation  and 
departure  to  Princeton.  He,  on  his  part,  was  for 
many  reasons  most  loath  to  go.  He  said  with  feeling 
that  his  ten  years  in  the  Brick  Church  had  been  the 
happiest  of  his  life.  But  the  work  which  had  been 
offered  to  him  at  the  college  had  peculiar  attractions 
for  him,  and  there  were,  moreover,  reasons  why  his 
departure  from  New  York  had  come  to  appear  de- 
sirable, if  not  necessary.  "The  large  executive  busi- 
ness and  the  distracting  details  of  his  office  [in  the  Brick 

*  The  regvilar  summer  holiday  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Murray's  coming  to 
New  York  consisted  of  six  weeks.  It  may  be  added  here  that  during  the 
pastor's  absence  it  was  customary  to  hold  union  services  with  a  neighbor- 
ing church,  and  we  note  with  special  interest  that  the  records  at  this  time 
speak  repeatedly  of  such  an  arrangement  between  the  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant and  the  Brick  Church. 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  353 

Church]  and,  above  all,  the  glaring  publicity  in  which 
of  necessity  he  did  his  work,  for  a  man  of  his  tem- 
perament, were  hard,  and  they  wore  upon  him."  * 

The  session  acquiesced  in  his  resignation  with 
great  reluctance.  *'Did  we  yield  to  our  own  de- 
sires," they  said,  *'or  to  our  views  of  what  the  inter- 
ests of  the  church  dictate,  we  should  without  dissent 
feel  it  impossible  to  agree  to  Dr.  Murray's  request." 
But  the  most  emphatic  and  expressive  protest  against 
the  acceptance  of  Dr.  Murray's  resignation  was  that 
which  was  presented  to  the  session  in  the  name  of 
the  children  of  the  church,  as  soon  as  the  unwelcome  | 

news  reached  the  ears  of  the  people.  This  letter, 
though  it  was  not  the  production,  we  may  suppose,  of 
the   youthful    signers    themselves,    did    express    the  I 

thoughts  of  the  parents  in  regard  to  Dr.  Murray's  | 

beneficent  influence  upon  their  children,  and  their  | 

belief  that  upon  the  boys  and  girls  he  had  made  a  I 

definite  and  favorable  impression.  This  in  itself  was 
surely  no  small  commendation  of  his  ministry. 

"We  feel,"  the  letter  to  the  session  says,  after  ; 

a  brief  introduction,  "that  we,  the  children  of  this  I 

church,  who  have  been  so  blessed  with  his  instruc-  ] 

tions,   always   so   full   of  affectionate,   earnest,   and  | 

prayerful  solicitude  for  our  best  good,  so  tenderly  | 

striving  to  win  us  to  the  truth,  cannot  rest  without  j 

earnestly  begging  you  to  reconsider  your  action  in  J 

this  matter.  We  beg  you  to  consider  the  blessing  we 
have  in  the  prayers  and  instructions  of  the  pulpit, 
ever  given  in  language  so  rarely  fitted  to  guide  the 
young  mind  to  all  that  is  pure  and  elevated  in  thought 
and  action,  while  it  is  so  fully  in  the  spirit  of  the 

*  "James  O.  Murray,"  by  John  De  Witt,  p.  26. 


354  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

meekness  and  tenderness  of  our  blessed  Saviour. 
We  beg  you  to  compare  it  with  much  of  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  present  time,  so  unsuited  to  the  dignity 
and  solemnity  of  the  sacred  desk.  We  also  beg  you 
to  consider  our  loss  in  not  only  losing  these  sacred 
instructions,  but  also  the  devoted,  affectionate,  and 
earnest  efforts  that  Mrs.  Murray  and  the  family 
have  made  for  our  pleasure  and  improvement  in  all 
respects.  * 

"And,  dear  Sirs,  in  view  of  these  considerations,  to 
our  minds  and  hearts  more  weighty  than  we  have 
power  to  express,  we  pledge  ourselves  that,  if  we 
may  be  blessed  with  the  continuance  of  the  labors 
and  instructions  of  our  beloved  pastor,  we  will  stand 
by  you  and  him  by  every  effort  we  can  make  to  sus- 
tain you  in  enlarging  the  church,  by  striving  by  our 
example  and  effort  to  bring  others  into  the  Sabbath- 
school,  and  in  seeking  to  win  them  to  the  enjoyments 
of  the  same  rich  privileges  that  have  been  our  own, 
and  of  which  we  earnestly  hope  we  may  not  now  be 
deprived;  and  beg  you  to  use  all  your  influence  and 
efforts  to  persuade  Dr.  Murray  to  reconsider  his 
resignation,  both  as  a  session  and  as  individuals;  in 
proof  of  which,  with  great  respect,  we  hereto  affix 
our  names." 

We  may  be  sure  that  after  such  an  appeal  as  this, 
the  like  of  which  it  is  safe  to  say,  not  many  pastors 
have  received  in  relinquishing  their  charges.  Dr. 
Murray  would,  if  possible,  have  reversed  his  action, 
refused  the  alluring  call  to  Princeton,  and  taken  up 

*  Mrs.  Murray  had  been  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "  Children's 
Society,"  as  was  related  in  the  last  chapter.  In  memory  of  this  service  ren- 
dered by  her,  the  Murray  Kindergarten,  when  started  at  the  mission  in 
1891,  was  named  in  her  honor. 


A  WIDER  HORIZON  355 

once  more  the  work  for  the  grown  people  and  the 
children  of  the  Brick  Church.  But  this  was  clearly 
an  act  that  he  felt  to  be  neither  wise  nor  right.  The 
most  that  he  could  do  was  to  continue  for  a  time  to 
occupy  his  old  pulpit,  and  this  he  did  for  nine  months 
until  the  beginning  of  October,  but  then  at  length 
the  time  came  for  good-bye  and  Godspeed.* 

Such  work,  however,  as  he  had  done,  does  not 
perish  when  the  worker  is  called  away  to  another 
field.  Writing  twenty  years  later,  one  of  his  success- 
ors in  the  Brick  Church  thus  paid  his  tribute  to  Dr. 
Murray:  "A  scholar  of  fine  literary  attainments, 
a  Christian  gentleman  of  the  most  beautiful  charac- 
ter, and  a  preacher  of  profound  spirituality,  the  in- 
fluence of  his  ministry  still  abides  in  the  church."  f 

*  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  Hfe  in  the  service  of  Princeton  as  Professor  and 
Dean,  highly  influential  and  greatly  beloved.    He  died  in  1899. 
t  Dr.  van  Dyke,  "An  Historic  Church,"  p.  24. 


CHAPTER  XX 

A     MINISTER     FROM     ABROAD  :  1876-1882 

"What  is  the  result  of  my  ministry  amongst  you?  I  am  not  careful  for  you 
to  answer  in  respect  to  external  things.  A  growing  congregation,  an  extending 
interest,  a  public  reputation — these  are  small  matters  compared  with  the  effect  of 
that  ministry  in  your  hearts  and  lives." — Llewelyn  D.  Bevan,  Pastoral  Letter, 
1878. 

"Moreover,  concerning  a  stranger  that  is  not  of  thy  people  Israel,  but  cometh 
out  of  a  far  country,  for  thy  name's  sake." — 1  Kings  8  :  41. 

UNTIL  1876,  the  Brick  Church  had  owned  no 
parsonage,  nor  had  it  felt  the  need  of  one 
until  the  more  frequent  changes  in  the  pas- 
torate, combined  with  the  increased  diflBculty  of  ob- 
taining a  residence  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
church,  brought  the  matter  into  special  prominence.- 
At  the  initiation  of  Mr.  Morgan,  at  this  time  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  trustees — "Governor"  Morgan, 
as  he  was  always  called* — an  opportunity  to  secure 
No.  14  East  Thirty-seventh  Street  was  improved, 
and  the  house,  "together  with  the  mirrors,  console 
tables,  gas  fixtures,  and  white  patent  shades,"  was 
purchased  for  $35,100.  The  furnishings  increased 
this  outlay  by  about  $5,000,  and  the  entire  sum  was 
borrowed  by  the  trustees,  largely  by  a  mortgage  on 
the  property.  This  added  nothing,  however,  to  the 
annual  burden  of  the  church,  since  the  pastor's  salary 
would,  of  course,  be  proportionately  reduced,  f  while 

*  He  had  held  that  office  in  New  York  State  for  two  terms,  beginning 
in  1858. 

t  From  $8,000  to  $6,000. 

356 


A   MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        357 

to  the  new  pastor  himself  the  provision  of  a  suitable 
and  commodious  house,  ready  for  his  use,  would  be 
a  great  convenience. 

The  man  chosen  to  be  the  first  occupant  of  this 
parsonage  was  the  Rev.  Llewelyn  D.  Bevan,  LL.B., 
of  London,  England.  * 

He  was  pastor  of  the  congregation  which  wor- 
shipped in  the  church  on  Tottenham  Court  Road, 
known  as  Whitefield's  Chapel,  f  having  been  erected 
in  1756  by  the  same  George  Whitefield  whose  preach- 
ing exerted  a  strong  influence  on  the  religious  devel- 
opment of  the  first  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church,  as 
has  been  described  in  an  earlier  chapter;  but  except 
for  this  coincidence  of  association  the  new  pastor 
was  a  complete  stranger,  and  to  the  country  as  well 
as  to  the  church  that  had  called  him. 

This  going  abroad  for  their  minister  had  no  doubt 
been  suggested  to  the  Brick  Church  officers  by  the 
example  of  other  churches,  for  there  were  at  that 
time  a  singularly  large  number  of  foreign  ministers  in 
New  York  pulpits.  *'It  must  be  somewhat  discour- 
aging to  our  native  preachers,"  said  an  editorial  in  one 
of  the  newspapers,  "to  find  so  many  leading  pulpits 
taken  possession  of  by  ministers  brought  from 
abroad.  .  .  .  We  have  already,  in  New  York,  Dr. 
John  Hall  at  the  great  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  most  popular  preacher  in  the  city,  and 
a  north  of  Ireland  Scotchman;   Dr.  Ormiston, {    of 

*  He  was  called  on  October  4th,  1876,  his  letter  of  acceptance  was  dated 
November  16th,  and  he  was  installed  on  January  16th,  1877. 

t  It  was  replaced  in  1899  by  a  new  building  now  known  as  the  White- 
field  Memorial  Church. 

t  In  1864,  when  he  was  settled  in  Hamilton,  Canada,  he  was  consid- 
ered for  the  a"fe80ciate  pastorate  of  the  Brick  Church. 


358  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

the  Fifth  Avenue  Collegiate  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
an  eloquent  sermonizer  and  a  thorough  Scotchman; 
and  Dr.  Taylor,  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  also  a 
very  gifted  preacher  and  also  a  Scotchman,  and  now 
the  old  Brick  Church  on  Fifth  Avenue  follows  its 
neighbors  in  sending  abroad  for  a  pastor.  .  .  . 
Our  theological  seminaries,"  this  editorial  adds, 
*'must  be  turning  out  indifferent  preachers,  if  the  in- 
stances we  have  named — and  they  are  only  a  part  of 
the  number — prove  that,  in  order  to  get  ministers 
whose  sermons  shall  be  satisfactory  to  critical  con- 
gregations, the  wealthiest  churches  must  send  across 
the  Atlantic  for  them." 

It  was,  however,  no  mere  following  of  a  fashion 
that  influenced  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church  in 
calling  Mr.  Bevan.  They  had  strong  grounds  for  their 
belief  that  in  him  they  had  found  an  exceptionally 
able  preacher  and  pastor.  He  had  for  more  than  seven 
years  worked  in  London  with  great  success,  as  hi« 
parishioners  there  testified  in  commending  him  to 
his  new  charge.  "We  in  sorrow  submit  [to  his  de- 
cision]" they  said,  "and  transfer  him  to  your  love. 
.  .  .  We  pray  earnestly  that  the  loss  we  hereby  sus- 
tain may  prove  the  gain  of  the  whole  Church."  Mr. 
Bevan  had  also  been  a  prominent  supporter  of  the 
Working  Men's  College  in  Great  Ormond  Street,* 
founded  by  his  friend  the  Rev.  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice,  f  and  a  letter  from  the  Council  of  the  New 
College,  London,  "to  the  officers  and  members  of 
the    Presbyterian    Church    usually    assembling    for 

*  Moved  to  Crowndale  Road  in  1905. 

t  Especially,  the  Bible  class,  which  Mr.  Maurice  had  begun,  but  which 
had  been  dropped  at  his  departure,  was  reestablished  and  successfully 
carried  on  by  Mr.  Bevan. 


LLEWELYN  D.  BEVAN 


A   MINISTER   FROM   ABROAD        359 

worship  in  the  old  Brick  Church,  New  York,"  ex- 
pressed in  a  very  emphatic  way  the  regret  with 
which  such  institutions,  quite  outside  of  his  own 
church,  viewed  Mr.  Bevan's  departure  from  London. 

He  himself  could  not  but  feel  the  greatest  sorrow 
in  leaving  such  an  important  and  prosperous  field  of 
work.  "The  step  which  I  have  thus  taken,"  he  said 
in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  "is  fraught  with  serious 
issues.  I  leave  here  a  broken-hearted  people  whom 
I  have  gathered  together  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
a  large  and  perfectly  united  communion.  There  are 
many  duties  within  the  church,  with  others  belong- 
ing to  our  denomination  and  our  country,  which  I 
hereby  lay  down.  I  need  the  grace  of  the  Master, 
the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  sympathetic  asso- 
ciation of  a  loving  people.  That  these  should  be 
mine  is  my  hourly  prayer." 

Personally  Mr.  Bevan  had  many  peculiarly  attrac- 
tive qualities;  "gifted,  generous,  vigorous,  warm- 
hearted,"* thus  his  successor  in  the  Brick  Church 
has  described  him.  He  was  a  Welchman,  as  his  name 
betokens,  and  he  had,  in  full  measure,  the  zeal  and 
enthusiasm,  the  ready  utterance,  and  the  impulsive 
affections  of  that  interesting  race.  In  social  inter- 
course he  was  genial  and  human,  a  man  sure  to 
make  friends  of  those  with  whom  he  was  closely 
associated. 

In  spite  of  all  that  he  was  leaving  behind  and  the 
inevitable  hardship  involved  in  taking  up  his  work 
in  a  foreign  land  among  a  strange  people,  he  came 
nevertheless  with  great  courage  and  hope.  One 
large  element,  probably,  in  his  enthusiasm — it  had 

*  "An  Historic  Church,"  p.  24. 


360  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

also  been  a  large  element,  no  doubt,  in  his  decision  to 
make  the  change — was  the  thought  that  he  was  com- 
ing to  a  new  country,  where  he  could  bear  a  more 
influential  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  later 
life  of  the  people,  than  was  possible  in  England. 
That  was  the  kind  of  work  to  which  he  was  especially 
drawn,  and,  we  may  add,  for  which  he  was  fitted  in 
a  marked  degree,  as  has  been  proved  by  his  striking 
career  in  Australia  in  later  years,  where,  it  is  re- 
ported, he  has  been  an  important  factor  not  only  in 
the  religious,  but  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the 
Colony. 

But  it  must  be  added  that  Mr.  Bevan  had  appar- 
ently overstated  to  himself  the  newness  of  the  field 
to  which  he  was  coming.  He  knew,  of  course,  that 
the  Brick  Church  represented,  not  the  pioneer  life  of 
nineteenth-century  America,  but  an  older  and  more 
settled  portion  of  its  society.  Indeed,  the  letter  quoted 
above,  in  which  the  New  College,  London,  commends 
him  to  "the  old  Brick  Church,"  suggests  that  he  and 
his  English  friends  had  noted — with  a  genial  smile, 
perhaps — the  antiquity,  from  the  American  point  of 
view,  of  the  church  whose  call  he  had  accepted. 
Nevertheless,  as  was  natural  for  a  citizen  of  the  old 
world,  he  evidently  had  assumed  that  even  the  oldest 
things  in  America  must  still  be  in  the  formative  period. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  he  was  genuinely  sur- 
prised and  disappointed  when  the  real  conditions 
became  apparent  to  him,  when  he  discovered  that, 
far  as  New  York  life  was  from  representing  a  vener- 
able civilization,  it  was  almost  equally  removed  from 
that  youthful  state  in  which  any  determined  and 
courageous  worker  can  become  a  founder  of  social 


A  MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        361 

and  political  institutions,  the  architect  of  the  future 
on  a  large  scale. 

In  an  interview  published  on  the  eve  of  his  return 
to  England,  Mr,  Bevan,  in  a  frank  and  interesting 
way,  described  the  facts  of  the  case  as  he  had  seen 
them  and  their  effect  upon  himself.  "Your  profes- 
sional men,"  he  said,  "especially  clergymen,  seem  to 
be  restricted  to  purely  professional  work  in  a  fashion 
that  we  do  not  dream  of  in  London.  Here  .  .  .  [the 
clergyman]  is  outside  of  politics  entirely:  he  is  not 
expected  to  lecture  much,  not  expected  to  concern 
himself  with  social  questions,  and  not  expected  to 
concern  himself  much  with  education,  justice,  or  tem- 
perance. To  a  Londoner  this  seems  all  wrong,  but  it 
is  useless  to  question  it.  .  .  .  Clergymen  [in  America] 
are  well  paid  and  kindly  treated,  but  they  are  not  ex- 
pected to  work  for  the  good  of  their  fellow-men,  ex- 
cept in  certain  defined  lines.  In  England  the  clergy 
of  the  Establishment  are  frequently  justices  of  the 
peace.  We  of  the  non-Conformist  party  are  members 
of  the  School  Board,  Public  Works,  and  so  forth,  and 
take  a  part  in  all  public  movements.  .  .  .  You 
Americans  are  far  more  conservative  than  English- 
men. ...  I  was  asked  to  go  to  a  great  meeting  on 
a  public  topic  soon  after  I  got  here,  to  find  that  all 
I  was  expected  to  do  was  to  open  the  meeting  with 
a  prayer  and  close  it  with  a  benediction.  I  was 
dumfounded."  * 

While  this  statement  may  seem  to  an  American  to 
be  somewhat  exaggerated,  it  must  be  confessed  that 

*  From  the  "  Evening  Post, "  March  6th,  1880.  To  some  other  statements 
in  the  interview,  not  quoted  in  the  text,  Mr  Bevan  took  exception  in 
a  letter  printed  in  the  "Post"  on  March  8th.  He  accepted  the  rest  as  in 
Bubstance  an  accurate  report  of  "a  very  informal  conversation." 


362  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

it  contained  a  certain  amount  of  truth.  In  many  re- 
spects, the  field  of  public  life  in  New  York  at  that 
time  was,  as  Mr.  Bevan  says,  more  difficult  of  en- 
trance for  any  but  politicians  than  it  was  in  London. 
Moreover,  the  work  of  the  Brick  Church  was  so  ex- 
acting and  its  standards  of  pastoral  efficiency,  espe- 
cially in  the  matter  of  preaching,  were  so  high,  that 
its  pastor  would  find  almost  all  his  time  and  energy 
exhausted  in  the  performance  of  his  parish  duties. 
It  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  go  outside  of  that 
more  limited  sphere  and  engage  effectively  in  public 
affairs  without  some  slighting  of  the  work  of  his  own 
parish.  In  all  this  Mr.  Bevan  not  unnaturally  found 
cause  for  disappointment. 

The  officers  of  the  church,  also,  had,  on  their  part, 
made  a  miscalculation.  They  had  assured  them- 
selves of  Mr,  Bevan's  success  in  his  London  pastorate, 
but  they  had  not  sufficiently  considered  whether  he 
could  so  far  adapt  himself  to  the  materially  different 
conditions  of  the  Brick  Church  as  to  achieve  there' 
a  work  equally  successful.  Perhaps  they  thought  that 
to  succeed  as  a  non- Conformist  among  the  middle 
class  people  of  London,  and  even  among  the  work- 
ingmen  of  that  city,  was  so  much  more  difficult  than 
the  problem  presented  by  a  prominent  and  well-es- 
tablished Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,  that  no 
anxiety  on  that  score  need  be  felt.  But,  after  all,  the 
problem  of  every  church  is  peculiar  to  itself,  and  a 
man,  very  successful  in  his  own  appropriate  sphere, 
may  be  seriously  handicapped  when  he  is  moved  out 
of  it. 

We  are  thus  warned  from  the  outset  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  Mr.  Bevan  was  called  upon  to  face. 


A  MINISTER  FROM  ABROAD        363 

But  in  spite  of  them  he  made  a  vigorous  beginning. 
The  spirit  and  result  of  his  work  during  the  first  two 
or  three  years  cannot  be  better  described  than  in  his 
own  words,  quoted  from  two  pastoral  letters  which 
he  issued  to  the  congregation  in  December,  1878, 
and  November,  1879. 

*'The  revolution  of  another  year,"  he  says  in  the 
earlier  of  these  epistles,  "has  brought  us  to  the 
second  anniversary  of  the  day  when  your  pastor  first 
took  his  place  in  the  pulpit  of  your  church,  and  it 
seems  fitting  that  once  again  I  should  address  you 
with  words  of  affectionate  greeting,  grateful  retro- 
spect, and  joyous  forecasting.  .  .  .  The  increase  of 
familiarity  has  only  added  to  my  respect  and  affection 
for  those  who  welcomed  me  with  kindness  and  have 
never  for  an  instant  ceased  to  extend  that  sympathy 
and  evince  that  hearty  regard  which,  next  to  the 
blessing  of  God,  are  a  minister's  chief  support. 

"Another  year  of  labor  amongst  you  has  added 
also  to  the  strength  of  the  church.  We  are  steadily 
advancing  in  consolidation  and  stability.  The  flut- 
ter of  novelty  has  passed  away  but  only  to  leave  a 
deeper  interest  and  sense  of  obligation  in  the  hearts 
of  all  associated  in  our  communion.  The  scattered 
congregation  has  been  regathered,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  new  friends  have  been  added,  not  only  to  the 
attendance  upon  public  worship,  but  to  the  regular 
seat-holders  in  the  congregation,  and  to  the  mem- 
bership of  the  church.*  We  had  to  wait  long  for  the 
reorganization  of  our  congregation  after  the  summer 

*  In  1878,  fifty-three  members  were  added  to  the  church,  thirty-two  of 
these  joined  at  the  Brick  Church  proper,  seven  by  confession  and  twenty- 
five  by  letter.  The  rest  were  additions  to  the  congregation  at  the  mission. 
The  figures  for  1877  had  been  slightly  larger,  similarlyjdistributed. 


364  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

and  autumn  vacation ;  but  when  it  came  the  increase 
in  numbers  was  so  marked,  and  the  growth  was  so 
evidently  a  soUd  one,  that  our  hearts  have  been 
greatly  cheered  and  encouraged. 

"There  is  one  aspect  of  the  growth  of  the  church 
which  I  am  very  anxious  to  bring  before  you,  and  that 
is,  the  addition  to  our  numbers  of  those  who  make 
profession  of  their  faith,  and  are  thus  not  only  incre- 
ments of  our  community,  but  gains  to  the  whole 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  These,  I  know,  are  often  the 
direct  effects  of  a  powerful  and  convincing  ministry, 
and  for  some  that  have  been  thus  impressed,  I  am 
deeply  thankful  to  him  whose  grace  and  power  are 
alone  sufficient  to  affect  the  changes ;  but  in  this  work 
the  preaching  of  the  pastor  is  not  alone  sufficient; 
there  must  be  also  the  prayer  of  the  people.  Breth- 
ren, I  beseech  you,  pray  for  me  and  for  my  min- 
istry. 

"  The  various  spheres  of  our  common  activity  have 
been  well  sustained,  and,  in  some  cases  greatly  en- 
larged. Our  mission  work  is  seriously  in  need  of 
helpers,  and  the  school  only  requires  teachers,  to  be 
filled  to  its  utmost  capacity. 

*'The  labors  of  the  ladies  of  the  congregation 
have  been  unremitting  in  behalf  of  the  poor,  and  the 
Employment  Society,  while  increasing  in  the  number 
of  those  whom  it  can  aid,  is  able  to  sustain  its  efforts 
only  by  the  continued  and  increased  generosity  and 
activity  of  the  members  of  the  church.  .  .  . 

"One  of  our  chief  causes  of  satisfaction  has  been 
the  interest  taken  amongst  the  children,  in  our  Sun- 
day-school and  in  the  Children's  Society.  There  has 
been  a  remarkable  revival  and  quickening  of  atten- 


A   MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        365 

tion.  A  church  in  the  position  of  ours  must  grow 
chiefly  along  the  lines  of  its  families,  and  we  have, 
therefore,  been  greatly  encouraged  by  the  healthful 
energy  of  the  institutions  belonging  to  the  children. 

"There  is  one  point  which  I  desire  to  press  home 
upon  your  attention,  namely,  the  services  of  the 
church  upon  the  week-days.  May  I  beg  of  you  not  to 
neglect  these  opportunities  of  assembling  in  the  house 
of  God  for  instruction  and  for  prayer  ?  To  me,  these 
services  are  the  most  refreshing  of  any  that  we  hold. 
To  those  who  wish  to  hear  the  preacher  when  most 
living  and  instructive,  I  would  venture  to  say,  hear 
him  on  Wednesday  nights;  but  especially  I  beg 
for  a  larger  attendance  at  the  prayer-meeting  on 
Saturday  evenings.  That  is,  I  believe,  a  peculiar 
source  of  strength  for  the  entire  church.  Were  it 
fully  and  warmly  sustained  by  a  people  pressing  in 
to  prayer,  the  revival  which  we  desire  would  not  be 
long  delayed. 

"One  other  special  point  of  importance  demands 
our  attention.  After  several  experiments,  and  after 
much  deliberation,  we  have  determined  that  the  sec- 
ond Sunday  service  of  our  church  shall  be  in  the 
afternoon,  to  be  held  regularly  and  without  break. 
May  I  not  beg  the  fullest  attendance  of  the  congre- 
gation upon  that  occasion  ?  The  universal  dwindling 
of  the  second  service  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  not  a  healthy 
sign  of  modern  church  life.  Let  it  at  least  not  be 
known  amongst  us.  ...  If  a  congregation  be  not 
in  its  place,  why  should  the  minister  be  found  in  his 
pulpit  ?  These  shall  be  the  only  notes  not  altogether 
cheerful  in  my  words  to  you,  and  even  these  I  will 
close  with  the  expression  of  the  hope  of  a  regular  and 


366  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

large  afternoon  congregation,  in  which  hope  I  be- 
seech you  not  to  disappoint  me." 

The  rest  of  the  letter  being  of  a  more  general  and 
discursive  character  need  not  be  quoted  here,  but  two 
or  three  topics  already  referred  to  in  the  earlier  part 
of  it  deserve  further  notice.  The  attention  given  to  the 
children  of  the  church  was  certainly  a  happy  feature 
of  Mr.  Bevan's  ministry.  The  present  writer  well 
remembers  the  children's  service  held  from  time  to 
time  on  Sunday  afternoons,  when  all  the  arrange- 
ments were  designed  to  make  the  boys  and  girls  feel 
that  the  service  distinctly  belonged  to  them.  Par- 
ticularly important,  if  depth  and  permanence  of  im- 
pression are  to  be  regarded  as  indications,  was  the 
fact  that  even  the  taking  up  of  the  collection  was  at 
that  service  entrusted  to  the  children.  It  was,  it  is 
true,  a  somewhat  awful  moment  to  boys  of  eight  or 
ten,  when  they  must  pass  from  end  to  end  of  that  in- 
terminable Brick  Church  aisle,  while  the  possibility 
of  passing  by  some  man  or  woman,  hidden  away  at 
the  inner  end  of  a  pew,  added  a  further  cause  of 
dread  to  the  exercise;  but  the  boys  liked  it,  and, 
what  is  more  important,  it  gave  them  a  feeling  of  per- 
sonal participation  in  the  life  of  the  church  which 
helped  to  root  them  there  for  later  life.* 

These  services  were  connected  with  the  work  of 
the  Children's  Society,  whose  organization  in  Dr. 
Murray's  time  has  been  already  described,  and  whose 
quickened  interest  Mr.  Bevan  mentioned  with  grati- 
tude in  the  letter  that  has  been  quoted.  The  collec- 
tions at  these  services,  for  which  the  boys  "passed 
the  plate,"  were  for  the  replenishing  of  the  society's 

*  These  children's  services  had  been  started  in  the  time  of  Dr.  Murray. 


A  MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        367 

treasury.  Another  means  used  for  the  same  pur- 
pose was  the  holding  of  an  occasional  fair  for  the 
sale  of  those  "fancy  and  useful  articles"  which  church 
members  are  asked  to  contribute  in  the  morning  and 
buy  back  in  the  afternoon. 

From  these  sources  considerable  sums  of  money 
were  realized,  and  used,  not  only  for  the  regular  work 
which  the  society  had  from  the  beginning  under- 
taken among  the  poor  children  connected  with  the 
mission,  but  also  for  the  furthering  of  special  enter- 
prises of  a  character  in  harmony  with  the  society's 
general  purpose.  Thus  in  one  year  the  object  was 
stated  as  "The  Children's  Convalescent  Country 
Home,"  in  another  as  "The  Sanitary  Home  for  Sick 
Children."  Mr.  Bevan  was  especially  anxious  that 
the  Brick  Church  should  start  a  home  of  its  own  in 
the  country,  to  which  the  sick  children  in  its  charge 
might  be  sent  for  rest  and  refreshment.  But  although 
a  beginning  of  the  collection  of  the  necessary  funds 
was  made,  the  plan  could  not  then  be  carried  out; 
and  one  reason  for  this  was  a  period  of  decline  into 
which  the  Children's  Society  entered  not  long  after 
the  time  at  present  under  consideration.  The  causes 
for  this  decadence  and  the  happy  result  to  which  it 
ultimately  led,  will  be  described  in  the  next  chapter. 

In  connection  with  the  Children's  Society,  it  will 
be  appropriate  to  speak  of  another  organization  in 
which  Mr.  Bevan  took  a  special  interest.  When  he 
came,  he  found  no  society  for  the  young  men  of  the 
church,  for  the  "Association,"  which  came  into  ex- 
istence in  Dr.  Hoge's  time  had  meanwhile  disap- 
peared. Mr.  Bevan  had  not  been  in  New  York  three 
months  when  he  brought  about  the  organization  of  a 


368  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

"Young  Men's  Society,"  he  himself  accepting  the 
responsibiUty  of  being  its  first  president  The  ses- 
sion took  occasion  to  express  their  special  satisfac- 
tion at  the  launching  of  this  enterprise  and  their 
"hope  that  it  will  prove  an  effective  agency  in  devel- 
oping Christian  fellowship  and  promoting  Christian 
activity  in  the  church  and  congregation."  And,  in- 
deed, the  social  gayeties  which  this  society  intro- 
duced into  the  church  life  in  the  year  1877  must 
have  been  astonishing  to  people  of  the  older  genera- 
tion. In  April,  in  May,  and  again  in  November  en- 
graved invitations  from  the  young  men  requested 
the  pleasure  of  the  church's  company  (including 
the  young  women)  at  an  evening  reception  in  the 
church  parlors  "  from  8|  to  10^."  How  long  this 
society  continued  we  do  not  know,  but  the  sudden 
ceasing  of  all  allusion  to  it  makes  us  fear  that  it  soon 
perished. 

The  matter  of  the  second  Sunday  service,  to  which 
reference  was  made  in  the  pastoral  letter  already 
quoted,  had  evidently  been  discussed  at  considerable 
length,  and  indeed  it  was  not  settled  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  every  one  till  a  still  later  date.  The  officers 
of  the  church  seem  to  have  been  very  emphatically 
in  favor  of  the  old  afternoon  service,  but  the  pastor 
and  perhaps  some  of  the  congregation  were  so  anx- 
ious to  have  the  hour  changed  to  the  evening,  that 
they  returned  several  times  to  the  discussion.  They 
succeeded  in  obtaining  permission  to  try  their  plan 
for  brief  intervals,  but  the  original  hour  was  always 
soon  restored.  A  further  reference  to  the  same  sub- 
ject will  be  found  in  a  second  letter,  issued  in  the 
year  1879,  which  may  now  be  quoted. 


A  MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        369 

*'The  welcome  accorded  to  my  previous  communi- 
cation," Mr.  Bevan  says  in  his  introduction,  "has 
determined  me  not  to  break  through  the  custom  so 
pleasantly  begun."  Then  after  referring  to  the 
"serious  family  anxiety"  by  which  the  year  had  been 
marked  (an  accident  to  Mrs.  Bevan  from  whose  effects 
she  suffered,  with  great  patience,  for  many  years), 
he  takes  up  the  affairs  of  the  church.  "Labor,"  he 
says,  "has  been  unbroken.  Increase,  steady  and 
marked,  has  attended  the  church's  history,  and  we 
are  permitted  to  commence  the  duties  of  a  new  sea- 
son with  promise  of  still  greater  achievement  and 
growth.  The  successful  endeavor  to  deal  with  the 
debt  which  our  community  had  incurred  has  been 
a  cause  of  much  cheer  and  congratulation.  All  have 
been  interested,  while  to  some,  whose  generous  gifts 
and  unceasing  energy  have  combined  to  render  the 
often  ungracious  work  of  debt-raising  assured  and 
pleasant,  my  best  felicitations  and  esteem  are  due. 
It  is  thus  that  we  would  blend  our  thankfulness  to 
God  and  our  recognition  of  those  whom  he  has  in- 
spired with  affection  and  zeal.  That  kindness  which 
greeted  a  stranger  grows  into  the  confidence  and  re- 
gard which  attend  the  friend  and  pastor." 

We  may  interrupt  the  course  of  the  letter  at  this 
point  to  say  that  the  paying  off  of  the  church's  debt 
at  this  time  was,  indeed,  a  most  happy  incident. 
Partly  the  purchase  of  the  parsonage  and  partly  still 
earlier  obligations  from  the  days  of  the  double 
pastorate,  had  forced  the  trustees  to  borrow  some 
$49,000.  But  now,  under  the  leadership  of  Governor 
Morgan,  who  was  always  found  in  the  forefront  of 
the  church's  work,  almost  the  whole  of  this  amount 


370  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

was  raised,  a  tremendous  relief  to  the  treasury,  which 
had  all  it  could  do  to  meet  current  expenses. 

But  to  return  to  the  letter.  "I  invite  the  younger 
members  of  the  congregation,"  Mr.  Bevan  continues 
"to  give  us  all  the  aid  they  can  in  our  mission  work. 
This  is  our  practical  and  aggressive  duty.  Its  social 
influence  will  be  found  pleasant  as  well  as  strength- 
ening to  all  our  interests,  while  nothing  but  the  lack 
of  helpers  prevents  the  limitless  increase  of  the  good 
we  can  thus  accomplish.  I  shall,  therefore,  cordially 
welcome  any  who  may  attach  themselves  to  either 
our  Sunday-school  or  our  mission-school  work.  To 
the  former  send  your  children,  to  the  latter  let  the 
young  men  and  women  of  the  church  give  themselves 
with  complete  consecration. 

"Amongst  the  growing  interests  of  our  church  are 
the  Sunday  afternoon  service  and  the  service  of 
Wednesday  evening.  In  respect  of  the  former  it  is 
well  known  that  your  pastor  would  personally  prefer 
an  evening  meeting.  But  many  friends  are  averse  to 
change,  and  unless  it  prove  necessary,  for  a  while  at 
least,  we  shall  continue  with  all  fidelity  the  afternoon 
service.  But  this  fact  is  a  strong  argument  for  a  good 
regular  attendance.  The  second  service  of  the 
church  is  that  which  may  generally  be  expected  to 
prove  the  chief  opportunity  for  the  ingathering  of 
those  who  are  outside  her  pale.  But  meagre  attend- 
ance will  render  inaffective  the  most  earnest  pleas, 
the  most  convincing  argument.  Give  your  minister 
the  aid  of  your  steady,  unbroken,  enthusiastic  presence 
at  this  service.  The  Sunday  afternoon,  under  any 
circumstances,  is  a  diflScult  time  for  public  discourse. 
The  diflBculty  becomes  almost  insuperable  when  the 


A  MINISTER   FROM  ABROAD        371 

preacher  is  greeted  by  the  empty  places  of  those  upon 
whom  he  ought  to  lean  for  sympathy  and  support. 
Many  more,  also,  ought  to  be  present  at  the  week- 
night  service.  It  is  hoped  that  the  course  of  sermons 
upon  the  Book  of  Revelation,  which  has  been  com- 
menced, will  sustain  and  increase  the  interest  which 
has  already  been  kindled.  An  hour  snatched  from  the 
home  circle  or  social  pleasures,  and  spent  in  the 
house  of  God,  and  in  attendance  upon  his  word, 
cannot  fail  to  result  in  confirming  life's  strength,  and 
heightening  its  enjoyments.  When  the  church  is  open 
for  service  its  members  ought  surely  to  be  present 
there.   .  .  . 

*'The  most  careless  observer  of  our  church  cannot 
fail  to  notice  not  only  an  increase  in  the  external 
signs  of  church  life,  but  also  a  stirring  of  the  deeper 
elements  of  faith  and  character  amongst  us.  The  sea- 
son of  prayer  lately  observed  resulted  in  a  deepening 
of  conviction  and  a  quickening  of  earnestness.  I 
have  no  great  faith  in  sudden,  temporary  so-called 
revivals,  but  I  long  for  a  greater  decision  of  Christian 
character.  I  yearn  for  the  signs  of  changed  hearts, 
and  kindled  spiritual  sentiments.  I  solemnly  summon 
to  profession  of  faith  those  who  so  long  have  held 
back  and  are  disciples  only  in  secret.  I  pray  for  the 
conversion  of  sinners  and  the  decisive  choice  of  the 
wavering,  the  careless,  the  indifferent.  .  .  .  Once 
again,  therefore,  I  cast  myself  upon  the  sympathy 
and  prayers  of  the  people,  thanking  all  for  unremit- 
ting personal  kindness.  Looking  forward  with 
much  joyful  expectation  to  the  promise  of  work  and 
results  therefrom  which  seem  to  lie  in  the  future, 
lifting  up  to  God  the  voice  of  praise,  and  solemnly  re- 


37^  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

consecrating  myself  to  your  service  in  the  Lord, 
whilst  I  claim  from  you  a  similar  renewal  of  your 
vows,  I  remain,  my  dear  friends, 

"  Your  affectionate  pastor. " 

The  two  letters  that  have  been  quoted  carry  us 
but  a  little  more  than  half-way  through  Mr.  Bevan's 
pastorate,  for  he  remained  in  New  York  over  two 
years  more ;  but  no  later  pastoral  letter  has  come  down 
to  us,  if,  indeed,  the  custom  of  issuing  one  each  year 
was  continued.  The  records  of  the  church,  moreover, 
give  us  for  this  period  little  more  than  the  bare  out- 
lines, so  that  it  will  not  be  possible  to  follow  in  detail 
the  history  of  those  later  years. 

Yet  to  this  one  exception  must  be  made.  The  con- 
tinued prosperity  and  growth  of  the  mission  is  fully 
recorded,  and  demands  our  attention.  The  Sunday- 
school,  of  which  Mr.  Daniel  J.  Holden  was  superin- 
tendent, he  having  succeeded  Mr.  Parsons  in  1877, 
could  hardly  have  been  more  prosperous.  Mr. 
Holden  gave  his  whole  heart  to  the  work  and  the 
many  who  love  to  remember  him  know  how  much 
that  meant.  Seldom  have  there  been  united  in  one 
man  so  much  strength  and  sweetness.  *'The  sound- 
ness of  his  judgment"  on  the  one  hand,  and  "the  pe- 
culiarly genial  and  lovable  qualities  of  his  nature," 
on  the  other,  "visibly  irradiated,  as  it  was,  by  the 
spirit  of  a  true  disciple  of  Christ,"  *  made  him  one 
of  those  rare  personalities  under  whose  influence  any 
good  and  wise  work  is  bound  to  prosper,  f 

*  From  resolutions  by  the  board  of  trustees  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
t  In  1880  there  was  in  the  school  an  enrolment  of  650  scholars;  aver- 
age attendance,  450;   number  of  officers  and  teachers,  52. 


A  MINISTER  FROM  ABROAD        373 

Mr.  Lampe  was  now  on  his  second  decade  as  pas- 
tor at  the  mission,  and  in  numbers  his  congregation 
was  fast  overtaking  that  of  the  Brick  Church  itself,* 
while,  under  the  wise  leadership  of  the  Brick  Church 
session,  it  was  being  prepared  as  rapidly  as  possible 
for  an  independent  existence.  Especially  a  decided 
advance  had  been  made  toward  self-support.  In 
January,  1878,  the  people  of  the  mission  requested 
that  they  might  be  allowed  to  put  in  an  organ  at  their 
own  expense,  and  at  the  same  time  steps  were  taken 
toward  placing  upon  their  shoulders  some  definite 
share  of  the  responsibility  for  their  church's  support. 
Later  in  the  same  year  the  cost  of  the  music  was  se- 
lected as  an  appropriate  portion  of  the  expenses  to 
be  borne  by  the  Thirty-fifth  Street  congregation,  and 
it  was  voted  by  the  session  that  "for  the  purpose  of 
encouraging  the  mission  to  meet  the  responsibility, 
the  church  aid  for  music  at  the  mission  be  for  the 
present  withdrawn."  In  1879,  in  addition  to  a  gen- 
eral invitation  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the 
church,  the  special  proposal  was  made  that  the 
people  of  the  mission  provide  for  an  increase  of  $500 
in  their  pastor's  salary.  Thus,  little  by  little,  the 
spirit  of  independence  and  the  habit  of  self-support 
were  being  encouraged. 

In  April,  1882,  Dr.  f  Bevan  offered  his  resignation.  J 
He    had    been    called    to    the    new    Congregational 

*  In  the  official  reports,  the  members  of  the  two  congregations  were, 
of  course,  given  together  in  one  figure.  More  than  a  third  of  the  members 
received  during  Dr.  Bevan's  pastorate  worshipped  at  the  mission. 

t  He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  in  1880. 

t  His  intention  to  return  to  London  had  been  made  pubhc  several 
weeks  earher,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  dates  of  an  interview  and  a  letter 
quoted  in  the  earlier  portion  of  this  chapter,  page  361,  note. 


374  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Church  in  Highbury  Quadrant,  London,  and,  as  he 
said  in  the  meeting  of  the  Brick  Church  at  which  his 
resignation  was  accepted,  he  regarded  as  a  compelHng 
summons  this  invitation  to  go  "back  to  the  field  of 
his  former  labors."  The  truth  was,  no  doubt,  that 
his  return  to  England  seemed  to  him  like  the  regain- 
ing of  his  freedom.  In  some  important  respects,  as 
has  been  already  said,  he  had  not  found  in  New 
York  the  opportunity  he  had  anticipated,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  whose  sake  he  had  abandoned  the  evident 
advantages  of  work  among  his  own  countrymen ;  and 
the  thought  of  taking  up  again  his  life  in  London  could 
not  but  be  welcome  to  him. 

He  left  behind  him  many  warm  friends.  In  1885 
and  again  in  1886,  he  was  invited  to  revisit  America 
for  the  special  purpose  of  preaching  in  the  Brick 
Church  during  a  whole  or  a  part  of  the  summer,  but 
his  duties  at  home  prevented  his  acceptance.  In 
1891,  however,  he  did  visit  New  York  and  occupied 
his  old  pulpit  at  that  time.  He  had  then  moved  once 
more  from  London,  and  had  found  in  Melbourne, 
Australia,  a  most  congenial  field  of  service.  Of  his 
great  success  there  his  former  parishioners  heard  with 

joy- 


CHAPTER  XXI 

REJUVENATED:    1882-1893 

"Moreover,  because  the  preacher  was  wise,  he  still  taught  the  people  knowledge; 
yea,  he  gave  good  heed,  and  sought  out,  and  set  in  order  many  proverbs.  The 
preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words:  and  that  which  was  written  was 
upright,  even  words  of  truth.  The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,  and  as  nails 
fastened  by  the  masters  of  assemblies." — Ecclesiastes,  12  :  9-11. 

"Our  church  is  not  like  an  ancient  sign-post  which  the  weather  is  wearing  to 
decay;  nor  like  a  graven  image  which  can  neither  hear,  nor  speak,  nor  grow,  but 
like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water.  Its  roots  run  down  deep  into  the  past. 
Its  trunk  rises  strong  and  unbroken  in  the  present.  And,  p'-iase  God.  it  shall  still 
lift  its  head  to  greet  the  future,  putting  forth  new  buds  and  blossoms  with  every 
season." — Henry  van  Dyke,  "  An  Historic  Church,"  1893.  p.  6. 

AT  the  same  meeting  at  which  Dr.  Bevan's 
resignation  was  accepted  a  committee  of 
twenty-seven  *  was  appointed  "to  take  meas- 
ures for  filling  the  vacancy."  This  was  in  April,  1882. 
Almost  at  once  the  name  of  Henry  J.  van  Dyke, 
Jr.,  minister  of  the  United  Congregational  Church 
of  Newport,  R.  L,  was  mentioned.  Governor 
Morgan,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  who  knew 
him  and  his  work,  and  thought  him  "a  very  fine 
young  man,"  believed,  nevertheless,  that  he  ought  not 
to  be  asked  to  leave  the  charge  which  he  then  held; 

*  The  names  of  these  men,  who  made  up  a  large  part  of  the  strength 
of  the  church  at  this  time,  are  here  given:  Gov.  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Chair- 
man, George  de  Forest  Lord,  Frederick  W.  Downer,  Benjamin  F.  Dun- 
ning, Ezra  M.  Kingsley,  John  E.  Parsons,  Frederick  Billings,  Isaac  N. 
Phelps,  John  G.  Adams,  M.D.,  Ronald  M.  Buchanan,  Hamilton  Odell, 
Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  Daniel  J.  Holden,  Daniel  Parish,  Jr.,  Robert 
Watts,  M.D.,  William  B.  Isham,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Edward  W.  Davis, 
John  G.  Davis,  Charles  G.  Harmer,  George  W.  Comstock,  William  D. 
Barbour,  Nathan  C.  Ely,  John  Campbell,  John  A.  Gilbert  (John  Q.  ?) 
Clark,  Walter  Squires. 

375 


376  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

but  happily  at  about  this  time  there  came  rumors 
that  Mr.  van  Dyke  was  considering  a  call  to  London. 
If  Newport  was  to  lose  him  in  any  case,  Governor 
Morgan  was  very  clear  that  the  place  for  him  was  the 
Brick  Church,  and  in  this  the  rest  of  the  committee, 
after  the  matter  had  been  given  the  most  thorough 
consideration,  heartily  agreed.  On  September  20th, 
the  congregation  addressed  to  Mr.  van  Dyke  a  unani- 
mous call. 

The  pastor  elect  was  not  quite  thirty  years  of  age, 
having  been  born  in  Germantown,  Penn.,  on  Nov- 
ember 10th,  1852.  Not  long  after  his  birth,  his 
father.  Dr.  Henry  J.  van  Dyke,  the  eminent  Presby- 
terian clergyman,  began  his  long  pastorate  in  Brook- 
lyn, and  there  the  son  grew  up  and  received  his  ele- 
mentary education. 

Of  these  early  years  and  of  the  chief  companion- 
ship they  brought  to  him,  his  daughter  writes  pleas- 
antly in  her  sketch  of  his  life.*  "From  the  first," 
she  says,  "his  relationship  with  his  father  was  a  par- 
ticularly beautiful  one,  for  besides  the  natural  trust 
and  reverence,  there  grew  up  the  closest  kind  of  a 
friendship.  It  was  as  comrades  that  they  went  off 
for  their  day's  holiday,  escaping  from  the  city  and  its 
flag  pavements  and  brownstone  fronts,  and  getting 
out  into  the  fresh  country  air,  to  walk  through  the 
woods  and  watch  the  leaves  turn  red  and  gold  and 
brown  and  drop  to  the  ground,  or  to  skate  in  winter, 
or  to  listen  to  the  song  of  the  first  returning  bluebird 
in  the  spring.  It  was  under  the  wise  and  tender 
guidance  of  his  father  that  the  boy's  instinctive  love 
of  nature  grew  and  developed." 

«=  "The  Van  Dyke  Book,"  p.  159. 


REJUVENATED  377 

In  1869  he  entered  Princeton  and  four  years  later 
graduated,  after  showing  in  a  conckisive  manner  his 
abihty  as  an  orator  and  as  a  student  of  hterature. 
His  theological  training  was  acquired  in  Princeton 
Seminary  (1874-1877),  and  in  Germany,  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin  (1878).  Upon  his  return  to  America, 
he  was  ordained  and  entered  upon  his  ministerial 
work  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Newport,  where  it 
was  soon  evident  to  all,  including  certain  distin- 
guished Americans,  who  in  the  summer  season  be- 
came his  parishioners,  that  he  was  destined  to  do  an 
important  work  as  a  minister  of  Christ.  It  was  in 
Newport  that  Governor  Morgan  knew  him  and 
marked  him  as  a  rising  man. 

On  January  16th,  1883,  Mr.  van  Dyke  was  in- 
stalled as  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church.*  The  task 
which  he  had  undertaken  was  difficult  but  inspiring, 
for  it  was  his  purpose  that  the  Brick  Church,  finely 
situated  in  the  best  part  of  a  great  city,  and  inheritor 
of  a  noble  past,  should  become  once  more  an  ac- 
knowledged leader  in  the  work  of  Christ's  kingdom, 
as  she  had  been  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  century. 

Before  any  decided  advance  in  this  direction  could 
be  made,  there  was  needed  first  of  all  an  honest 
stock-taking  of  the  materials  available  for  the  work. 
Speaking  at  a  later  day  to  the  Brick  Church  people 
about  the  period  of  his  coming  to  them,  he  said,  "If 
report   speaks   truly,   you   were   somewhat   discour- 

*  The  moderator  of  Presbytery  presided;  Rev.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  D.D., 
conducted  the  devotional  exercises;  Rev.  Henry  J.  van  Dyke,  D.D., 
preached  the  sermon  from  Eph.  3  :  8,  "The  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ "; 
Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  delivered  the  charge  to  the  pastor;  Rev. 
John  Hall,  D.D.,  delivered  the  charge  to  the  people;  Mr.  van  Dyke  pro- 
nounced the  benediction. 


378  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

aged.  You  had  a  nominal  membership  of  one  thou- 
sand, and  an  actual  membership  of  less  than  three 
hundred ;  a  congregation  which  half  filled  the  church 
in  the  morning  and  varied  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  in 
the  afternoon;  a  floating  debt  and  a  sinking  revenue. 
But  you  had  also  a  company  of  people  who  were  de- 
voted to  the  church  and  willing  to  work  for  it  in  the 
face  of  discouragements.'"  * 

Almost  the  first  problem  attacked  was  that  of  the 
roll.  The  statements  quoted  in  the  last  paragraph 
seem  at  first  thought  almost  incredible,  but  they 
found  their  explanation  in  two  facts.  First,  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  members  of  the  Brick 
Church  attended  the  chapel  in  West  Thirty-fifth 
Street.  This  accounted  for  half  of  the  discrepancy 
between  the  "nominal"  and  the  '* actual"  member- 
ship. Second,  the  other  half  of  the  discrepancy  was 
explained  by  the  fact  that  for  a  long  time  the 
church  roll  had  not  been  revised,  so  that  it  included' 
the  names  of  many  who  had  moved  and  left  no  trace 
behind,  or  who  had  otherwise  disappeared.  In  a 
large  city  church,  especially  if  it  includes  the  more 
unstable  dwellers  in  the  tenements,  as  the  Brick 
Church  did  through  its  chapel,  this  sort  of  loss  is 
always  considerable;  but  three  hundred  and  fifty  was 

*  "An  Historic  Church,"  pp.  25  /.,  cf.  footnote  above,  p.  373.  A  few 
of  this  honorable  company,  "  Gideon's  band "  as  their  pastor  sometimes 
called  them,  are  still  at  their  posts.  To  those  who  were  called  away  by 
death  during  the  first  decade  of  his  pastorate.  Dr.  van  Dyke,  in  the 
sermon  already  quoted  above,  made  the  following  reference.  "  Strong  and 
generous  men,"  he  called  them,  "who  seemed  indispensable  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  church— E.  D.  Morgan,  Frederick  Billings,  S.  H.  Wither- 
bee,  Charles  G.  Harmer,  John  C.  Tucker,  George  de  Forest  Lord,  and  many 
more.  How  much  we  mourned  the  loss  of  these  good  soldiers  in  the  cause 
3ut  their  spirits  continued  with  us"  (p.  30). 


HENRY   VAX   DYKE,   1892 


REJUVENATED  379 

a  tremendous  proportion  of  the  entire  roll,  and  the 
necessary  removal  of  so  large  a  number  from  the 
active  list  made  it  seem  in  the  records  as  though  the 
church  had  suddenly  shrunk  to  an  amazing  degree. 
Yet  to  know  the  true  facts  was  really  a  source  of 
strength.  The  visible  three  hundred  members  who 
emerged  from  the  enumeration  were  worth  far  more 
for  the  work  that  lay  before  them  than  the  vague 
and  largely  imaginary  thousand  who  had  been  sup- 
posed to  occupy  the  strategic  position  on  Murray 
Hill. 

A  second  task  immediately  undertaken,  and  one  of 
much  greater  magnitude,  was  the  introduction  of 
such  changes  as  would  make  the  church  more 
attractive  in  the  best  sense.  It  was  the  purpose  of 
the  new  pastor  to  create  in  the  Brick  Church  such 
conditions  that  the  Christian  message  would  there 
be  commended  to  the  hearer  by  every  help  that  art 
and  learning  could  properly  provide,  or,  as  he  him- 
self has  characteristically  expressed  it  in  a  single 
phrase,  "to  light  the  fire  on  the  hearth."  In  the 
young  preacher  who  had  been  chosen  to  deliver  the 
message,  the  church  was  sure  that  it  had  found  a  man 
capable  of  speaking  God's  truth  in  a  manner  so  full 
of  interest  and  grace  that  a  congregation  could  not 
choose  but  hear.  As  events  proved,  they  had  suc- 
ceeded far  more  fully  than  they  knew:  they  had 
chosen  as  their  leader  one  of  those  rare  men  whom 
God  has  endowed  with  double  and  triple  gifts. 

But  although  they  had  thus  secured  for  their  pastor 
this  man  who  was  prophet  and  poet  as  well,  they  were 
not  so  foolish  as  to  leave  him  to  work  unaided.  On 
the  contrary,  they  responded  to  his  own  strongly  ex- 


380  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

pressed  desire  that  all  the  accompaniments  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  church  service  should  measure  up 
to  the  standard  of  beauty  as  well  as  that  of  use.  At 
the  very  first  trustees'  meeting  after  Mr.  van  Dyke's 
installation,  the  question  of  an  improvement  in  the 
music  was  the  subject  of  discussion,  with  the  imme- 
diate result  that  the  appropriation  for  that  purpose 
was  increased  almost  twenty-five  per  cent. 

But  the  most  momentous  change  proposed  was 
the  complete  renovation  of  the  interior  of  the  church. 
There  had,  indeed,  been  a  distinct  understanding 
before  Mr.  van  Dyke  accepted  the  call,  that  this 
should  be  undertaken  without  delay.  The  old  in- 
terior, which  had  stood  practically  unchanged  since 
the  erection  of  the  cliurch,  some  twenty-five  years  be- 
fore, w^as  dignified,  but  it  could  not  be  called  beauti- 
ful. According  to  the  standards  of  taste  that  had 
arisen  in  the  interval,  the  bare  walls,  the  white  plas- 
tered ceiling,  the  plain,  unornamented  character  of 
all  the  fittings  and  furniture  produced  an  effect  of 
coldness  and  severity  which  to  many  of  the  younger 
generation  was  positively  repellant.  It  was  intended 
that  as  soon  as  Mr.  van  Dyke  was  settled  in  his  work 
all  this  should  be  changed. 

An  unexpected  catastrophe  threatened  to  over- 
throw the  entire  plan  at  the  very  outset,  and  indeed, 
to  cripple  the  church  in  all  its  undertakings.  On  Feb- 
ruary 14th,  1883,  Governor  Morgan  died.  His  death 
was  a  national  loss,  for  he  had  been  not  only  mer- 
chant and  philanthropist,  but  statesman  and  patriot, 
and  his  service  to  his  country  during  a  most  critical 
period  of  her  history,  first  as  "War  Governor  of  the 
Empire   State"   from    1858   to    1863,   and   then   as 


REJUVENATED  381 

United  States  Senator  from  1863  to  1869,  had  won 
for  him  a  place  in  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of 
his  countrymen.*  But  nowhere  was  his  loss  felt 
more  keenly  than  in  the  Brick  Church,  of  which,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  without  dispute  the 
leading  member. 

Governor  Morgan,  who  had  been  chairman  of  the 
committee  by  whom  the  new  pastor  had  been  chosen, 
had  joined  heartily  in  the  promise  that  the  church 
should  be  renovated,  and  when  he  made  such  a  prom- 
ise he  meant  to  back  up  his  word  by  a  substantial 
gift  from  his  generous  purse.  At  his  death,  it  be- 
came at  least  a  serious  question  whether  the  old  bare 
interior  must  not  be  allowed  to  stand. 

But  the  question  was  soon  answered  by  an  order 
to  go  ahead.  Possibly  the  officers  of  the  church 
were  wise  enough  to  see  that  to  abandon  the  project 
would  almost  amount  to  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence 
in  their  pastor.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  certainly 
inspired  them  with  something  of  his  own  enthusiasm 
for  the  enterprise;  and  the  result  was  that  the  lay- 
men of  the  church  undertook  to  raise  the  necessary 
sum,  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand  dollars,  and 
Mr.  John  La  Farge,  the  distinguished  artist,  was 
engaged  to  direct  the  work. 

*  A  list  of  some  of  the  organizations  which  passed  resolutions  in  re- 
gard to  his  death  will  give  some  idea  of  the  varied  usefulness  of  his  life: 
The  National  Bank  of  Commerce;  the  American  Tract  Society;  the 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York;  the  Association  for  the  Relief  of 
Respectable,  Aged,  Indigent  Females;  the  Woman's  Hospital  in  the  State 
of  New  York;  the  Chamber  of  Commerce;  the  Maritime  Association, 
Port  of  New  York;  Union  Theological  Seminary;  the  Presbyterian  Hos- 
pital; the  New  York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Railroad  Company;  the 
New  York  City  Mission;  the  Union  League  Club;  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
of  New  York  City. 


382  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

*'The  building  or  adornment  of  a  church,"  Mr. 
van  Dyke  said,  '*is  not  like  the  building  or  adorn- 
ment of  a  dwelling-house.  It  is  not  a  work  of  private 
ostentation,  but  a  work  of  public  beneficence;  not  a 
work  of  selfishness,  but  a  work  of  charity,  just  as 
truly  as  the  building  of  a  hospital  or  the  endowment 
of  a  library.  For  it  stands  with  open  doors,  and, 
if  it  be  a  true  church  of  Christ,  offers  its  privileges 
to  all  who  will  receive  them."  *  Such  was  the 
generous  aim  with  which  the  work  was  begun  in 
June,  1883.  On  October  28th  of  the  same  year,  the 
church  was  reopened,  totally  and  splendidly  trans- 
formed. 

Instead  of  the  cold  grays  and  whites  of  a  New 
England  meeting-house,  which  had  been  familiar  to 
generations  of  Brick  Church  worshippers,  both  on 
Beekman  Street  and  on  Murray  Hill,  the  spacious 
interior  now  possessed  some  of  the  warmth  and  rich- 
ness of  color  characteristic  of  the  Byzantine  churches 
of  the  old  world.  Indeed,  so  skilfully  and  with  such 
perfect  taste  had  the  artist  worked,  that  one  realized 
with  difficulty  the  newness  of  the  decoration;  it 
seemed  already  to  have  acquired  the  dignity  and 
mellowness  which  usually  age  alone  is  able  to  pro- 
duce. 

The  prevailing  tone  selected  for  the  broad  surfaces 
of  the  walls  was  a  soft  or  broken  "Pompeian  red," 
while  the  color  of  the  woodwork  and  upholstery  of 
the  pews  was  somewhat  similar,  a  choice  which  pro- 
duced the  effect  of  warmth  already  alluded  to;  while 
lightness  and  variety  were  secured  by  the  use  of 

*  "The  Joy  of  the  Christian  when  He  Is  Invited  to  Enter  the  Lord's 
House:  a  Sermon,"  p.  10. 


REDECORATED  INTERIOR  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 


REJUVENATED  383 

mosaic  of  various  colors,  relief  work  in  majolica,* 
embroideries,!  and  colored  glass  in  windows  and 
lanterns.  But  the  most  important  work  was  done  in 
the  ceilins:  and  the  cornice.  There  the  richness  of 
sombre  colors  on  a  background  of  weathered  gold, 
the  wealth  of  varied  and  intricate  design,  the  signifi- 
cance imparted  by  a  pervading,  yet  unobtrusive  use 
of  Christian  symbol  and  inscription,  produce  together 
an  effect  of  great  and  enduring  beauty,  and  make 
this  work  of  Mr.  La  Farge  one  of  the  most  important 
examples  of  church  decoration  in  America.  J  It  was 
felt  at  once  that  a  spirit  of  reverence  and  worship, 
not  unlike  that  which  is  characteristic  of  many 
Gothic  churches,  though  produced  by  entirely  dif- 
ferent means,  had  been  imparted  to  the  very  building 
of  the  Brick  Church,  and  must  be  felt  by  all  who 
entered  its  doors.  ^ 

*  This  was  imported  from  England,  being  the  product  of  the  "  Minton  " 
works.  It  follows  closely  the  form  of  decorative  work  to  be  found  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Torcello  (1008),  and  in  other  churches  of  the  same  period  or 
earlier,  in  Ravenna,  Venice,  and  elsewhere  in  Italy. 

t  Designed  by  Mr.  La  Farge  and  executed  by  Miss  Tillinghast. 

X  A  prominent  New  York  architect,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  after  re- 
marking that  the  original  interior  of  the  Brick  Church  "was  even  plainer 
than  most  New  England  meeting-houses,"  adds,  "This  later  proved  to  be 
a  great  advantage,  for  when  John  La  Farge  took  hold  of  it  to  decorate  it, 
it  furnished  him  a  base  of  operations  that  was  comparatively  untram- 
melled, and  the  result  is  probably  the  most  beautifully  decorated  interior 
of  any  public  building  in  the  country.  I  have  never  seen  one  that,  on  the 
whole,  seemed  so  satisfactory,  and  it  would  really  be  a  calamity  if  any- 
thing happened  to  destroy  or  deface  it.  In  decorating  it,  the  interior  was 
so  devoid  of  character  that  Mr.  La  Farge  was  at  liberty  to  follow  any 
school  that  he  chose,  provided  it  inclined  to  the  classic.  He  chose  that  of 
the  early  Italian  churches,  from  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  centuries." 

§  One  important  change  made  at  this  time  was  the  removal  of  the 
organ  and  choir  from  the  gallery  above  and  behind  the  pulpit  (where  the 
spaces  between  the  columns  are  now  filled  in  with  mosaic-covered  walls) 
to  a  new  gallery  opened  at  the  east  end  of  the  church.  This  gallery  and 
the  organ  were  greatly  enlarged  at  a  later  date  (1898),  as  a  thank-offering 


S84  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  follow  in  chronological 
order  the  remaining  events  of  the  first  decade  of  Dr.  * 
van  Dyke's  ministry.  A  better  conception  of  the 
period  will  be  obtained  by  presenting  its  salient 
features  without  special  reference  to  date.  But  first 
of  all,  the  period  as  a  whole  must  be  characterized  as 
one  of  marked  or  even  of  phenomenal  progress,  from 
every  point  of  view,  material  and  spiritual  alike. 
The  New  York  "Tribune"  was  but  expressing  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  when  it  said,  in  an 
editorial  in  1888,  that  the  Brick  Church,  which,  on 
Dr.  van  Dyke's  arrival  "was  very  respectable,  but 
very  small,"  had  since  that  time  "been  growing 
largely  and  steadily,  and  [was]  once  more  full. 
Christian  work,"  the  editorial  continued,  "is  thor- 
oughly organized  and  actively  pushed,  and  the  old 
Brick  Church  has  completely  renewed  her  youth."  f 
It  would  be  difficult  to  overstate  the  esteem  and  deep 
personal  affection  with  which  Dr.  van  Dyke  was  soon 
universally  regarded.  His  genial  and  sympathetic 
nature,  added  to  his  great  intellectual  powers,  made 
an  appeal  which  was  wellnigh  irresistible. 

for  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Dr.  van  Dyke's  ministry.  Two  of  the  stained- 
glass  windows  on  the  south,  of  different  design  from  the  others,  were  given 
as  memoi'ials,  one  of  Governor  Morgan,  the  other  of  Dr.  E.  D.  Morgan 
and  his  wife.  The  only  important  changes  since  that  time,  in  addition  to 
the  one  already  mentioned  above,  were  the  placing  of  a  screen  of  colored 
glass  behind  the  rear  pews,  and  the  introduction  of  electricity,  by  which 
the  beauty  of  the  decoration,  especially  of  the  ceiling,  was  revealed  as 
never  before.  The  present  communion  table,  presented  in  1890,  is  a  me- 
morial of  Mrs.  Maria  Brower  McNeel,  while  the  font  was  given  in  1899  by 
Dr.  van  Dyke  as  a  memorial  of  his  little  son  Bernard. 

*  He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Princeton  in  1884 
and  subsequently  from  Harvard  and  Yale.  The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
has  been  conferred  upon  him  by  several  colleges  and  universities. 

t  Quoted  in  the  "University  Magazine,"  for  April,  1892,  p.  416. 


EAST  END  OF  THE  C'HrUCH  INTEKIOU,   1883 
Showirif;  choir  ^^allery 


REJUVENATED  385 

During  the  whole  period  there  seems  to  have  ap- 
peared but  one  cloud  upon  the  horizon.  This  was 
the  threatened  departure,  on  two  occasions,  of  the 
leader  to  whom,  under  God,  the  church's  prosperity 
and  enlarged  usefulness  were  plainly  due.  This  re- 
curring danger  is  worthy  of  mention,  not  for  its  own 
sake,  for  it  was  happily  averted  in  both  cases,  but 
because  of  the  expression  which  it  called  forth  from 
both  pastor  and  people  of  the  strong  bond  holding 
them  together. 

The  first  suggestion  that  Dr.  van  Dyke  might  be 
contemplating  a  surrender  of  his  office  came  in  De- 
cember, 1885.  He  had  now  been  at  work  three  years 
and  he  felt  constrained  to  use  an  opportunity  which 
had  presented  itself,  to  submit  to  the  congregation 
the  question  whether  they  approved  of  what  he  had 
done  and  aimed  to  do,  and  desired  him  to  continue 
his  ministry  among  them.  The  opportunity  con- 
sisted in  offers,  made  to  him  from  several  quarters,  to 
enter  a  new  field  of  work  in  which  he  would  be  able, 
as  he  said,  to  gratify  "a  long-cherished  desire  to  pur- 
sue certain  theological  and  literary  studies,  and  to 
accomplish  certain  work  in  that  line." 

Peculiarly  significant  and  worthy  of  preservation 
are  the  words  in  which  Dr.  van  Dyke,  in  his  letter  to 
the  session  on  this  subject,  set  forth  his  own  ideal  "of 
the  true  mission  and  purpose  of  the  church,  his  con- 
ception of  the  true  history  and  spirit  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  its  relations  to  the  catholic  kingdom  of 
Christ,  his  belief  that  order  and  beauty  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God  are  thoroughly  consistent  with  true  piety, 
his  desire  to  dwell  on  the  great  essential  points  of 
faith  which  are  common  to  all  Christians,  rather  than 


386  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

on  minor  doctrinal  differences  and  traditional  ques-  {i| 

tions  of  conduct,  his  faith  that  the  mission  of  the 
church  to  minister  to  the  distinctively  religious  wants 
of  all  the  people  is  unchanged  and  that  it  must  be 
fulfilled  in  adaptation  to  the  circumstances  of  the  age, 
and  that  its  success  depends  more  upon  the  spirit  and 
effort  of  the  whole  church  than  upon  the  minister." 

Dr.  van  Dyke's  offer  to  resign  took  the  officers 
completely  by  surprise,  and  indeed,  filled  them  with 
consternation.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  they 
''affectionately  and  unanimously"  assured  him  of 
their  complete  unwillingness  to  join  in  any  course 
that  would  tend  toward  a  severance  of  the  relation 
between  them.  They  stated  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms  "their  opinion  that  there  had  not  been  within 
many  years  past  so  much  reason  for  both  pastor  and 
session  to  feel  encouraged  and  satisfied  with  the  pros- 
pects of  the  church,"  and  they  especially  reassured 
him,  by  a  strong  declaration,  that  any  fear  of  a  lack 
of  sympathy  with  his  purposes  and  aims,  on  the  part 
of  officers  or  congregation,  was  "entirely  unfounded 
and  imaginary."  This  answer  brought  instant  con- 
viction to  Dr.  van  Dyke  that  his  work  in  the  Brick 
Church  should  be  continued.  No  other  consideration 
could  outweigh  in  his  mind  her  needs,  clearly  ascer- 
tained. "Honestly,"  he  had  said,  "I  love  the  church 
better  than  life,"  and  he  took  up  his  ministry  again 
with  joy  and  confidence. 

The  second  appearance  of  the  same  danger  eight 
years  later,  in  1893,  was  more  serious,  because  the 
ill  health,  which  Dr.  van  Dyke  had  then  experienced 
for  some  time,  made  him  feel  that  it  was  almost  im- 
perative for  him  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  less 


REJUVENATED  387 

arduous  service,  offered  in  a  call  to  a  professorship  in 
Andover  Seminary.  That  the  strain  of  the  con- 
stantly enlarging  work  of  the  church  was  seriously 
affecting  their  pastor's  health,  had  been  realized 
with  concern  by  the  session  before  this  time,  and 
special  arrangements  had  been  made  to  lighten  the 
burden,  including  ministerial  assistance  *  and  leave 
of  absence.  Still  further  measures  of  the  same  sort 
were  now  proposed.  Any  possible  expedient  by 
which  their  beloved  pastor  could  be  assisted  and 
strengthened  in  his  work  was  welcomed  by  them,  but 
of  his  resignation  they  would  not  hear,  and  their  will 
once  more  prevailed. 

At  this  result  no  surprise  will  be  felt  after  reading 
the  session's  resolution  on  this  subject,  which  shall 
be  given  in  full : 

"Resolved,  that  Dr.  van  Dyke  be  requested  to  at 
once  and  forever  dismiss  all  thought  of  a  call  to 
Andover  or  to  any  other  place.  If  he  desires  other 
assurance  of  the  affection  of  the  church  and  of  its  de- 
votion to  him,  it  will  be  given  at  any  time,  at  all  times, 
and  in  any  way  that  will  best  satisfy  him  of  the 
depth  and  sincerity  of  our  feeling. 

"We  have  never  doubted  that  God  sent  Dr.  van 
Dyke  to  us.  We  believe  that  it  is  his  divine  will  that 
Dr.  van  Dyke  shall  remain  with  us.  We  resent  all 
efforts  to  detach  him  from  us.  We  are  his  people. 
Will  he  leave  us  without  the  pastor  of  our  choice? 
God  forbid. 

"To  the  providence  which  has  smitten  his  health 

*  For  a  time  Dr.  van  Dyke  had  preached  on  Sunday  mornings  only, 
the  afternoon  service  and  the  prayer-meeting  being  conducted  with  great 
acceptance  by  Dr.  Henry  M.  Booth. 


388  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

we  bow  submissively,  but  we  cannot  let  Dr.  van 
Dyke  go.  He  has  endeared  himself  to  all,  young 
and  old,  high  and  low.  Here  his  lot  has  been  cast: 
here  is  opportunity  for  a  career,  for  work  in  and  out 
of  the  church,  work  for  our  own  particular  church, 
for  the  Church  at  large,  and  for  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  his  kingdom,  beyond  what  is  possible  elsewhere. 

"Resolved,  therefore,  that  from  sincere  conviction 
of  duty  we  beg  Dr.  van  Dyke  immediately  to  decline 
any  further  consideration  of  the  Andover  call,  and 
that  Messrs.  Parsons,  Ledoux,  and  Odell  be  ap- 
pointed to  present  this  action  to  Dr.  van  Dyke  and 
to  press  it  upon  him."  * 

We  must  now  return  to  the  earlier  years  of  the  pas- 
torate and  observe  in  more  detail  some  of  the  labors 
whose  results  have  already  in  a  general  way  been 
indicated. 

Two  enterprises,  undertaken  almost  simultane- 
ously in  1885,  indicate  in  a  suggestive  way  the 
diversity  of  the  labors  into  which  Dr.  van  Dyke  had 
thrown  himself.  These  were  an  evangelistic  cam- 
paign and  the  task  of  paying  off  a  debt  of  some 
$15,000  which  the  church  was  carrying.  The 
former,  which  took  the  shape  of  a  special  series  of 
Sunday  evening  services,  not  only  was  a  valuable 
stimulus  to  the  Brick  Church  itself, f  but  "resulted 

*  Resolutions  were  passed  by  the  congregation  expressing  the  same 
confidence  and  affection,  refusing  to  let  him  go,  and  providing  for  indefinite 
leave  of  absence  and  regular  assistance  in  the  pastoral  work  on  his  return. 

t  They  were  continued  throughout  the  season,  the  usual  afternoon 
services  being  discontinued  in  their  favor,  and  in  February  and  March 
were  varied  by  a  special  course  of  sermons  preached  by  the  following  well 
known  clergymen:  the  Rev.  Drs.  L.  T.  Chamberlain,  R.  S.  Storrs,  James 
McCosh,  J.  M.  Bulkley,  F.  L.  Patton,  James  S.  Mcintosh  and  Lyman 
Abbott. 


REJUVENATED  389 

in  an  evangelistic  movement  throughout  the  whole 
Presbytery  in  the  following  year."  *  The  raising 
of  the  debt,  in  which  the  pastor  took  vigorous 
part,  not  only  was  achieved  in  less  than  a  year's 
time,  but  ran  $1,000  beyond  the  mark  that  had  been 
set. 

Meanwhile  the  regular  services  of  the  church  had, 
under  Dr.  van  Dyke's  guidance,  taken  on  a  new 
character  and  had  acquired  a  new  importance  in  the 
religious  life  of  the  city.  Of  the  preaching  to  which 
the  Brick  Church  listened  in  those  days,  something 
has  been  already  said.  Not  often  have  a  people 
been  privileged  to  hear  Sunday  after  Sunday  such 
a  series  of  strong,  clear,  and  compelling  sermons, 
each  one  rising,  as  it  seemed,  to  a  greater  height 
than  the  one  before,  and  all  aimed,  with  peculiar 
singleness  of  purpose,  to  express  and  enforce  the 
greatest  Christian  truth,  and  to  reach  the  hearts  and 
wills  of  the  hearers,  as  well  as  their  minds,  in  the  in- 
terests of  Christian  living. 

In  the  worship  of  the  church  the  influence  of  Dr. 
van  Dyke  was  as  clearly  felt  as  in  the  preaching. 
Under  his  direction  the  order  of  service  was  rear- 
ranged and  enriched.  The  Psalter  was  placed  in  the 
pews  in  1891.  A  new  hymn-book  took  the  place  of 
'*The  Sacrifice  of  Praise,"  now  out  of  print,  and 
much  attention  was  given  to  the  music,  f  A  special 
endeavor  was  made  to  extend  a  genuine  welcome  to 
the  strangers  who  now  attended  the  services  in  large 
numbers,  and  so  thoroughly  was  this  matter  taken 

*  "An  Historic  Church,"  p.  27. 

t  It  was  rendered  by  a  quartette  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Carl  Florio, 
organist. 


390  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

to  heart  that  Dr.  van  Dyke,  in  1893,  could  say,  "You 
have  completely  lived  down  an  undeserved  reputa- 
tion of  coldness,  so  that  now  your  true  hospitality  is 
known  unto  all  men,  and  there  are  many  strangers 
within  your  gates  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day 
with  you  in  the  joy  of  a  warm  and  generous  Christian 
fellowship."  * 

The  Wednesday  evening  service  came  in  for  its  share 
in  the  church's  revival.  How  this  was  accomplished 
the  following  circular,  issued  in  October,  1889,  will 
show  better  than  much  explanation. 

**You  are  cordially  invited  to  spend  an  hour  out 
of  your  busy  week  in  the  study  of  the  Bible  with  us, 
and  in  social  worship.  The  meetings  will  be  held  on 
Wednesday  evenings  at  eight  o'clock,  and  this  is 
what  we  hope  to  do : 

"First,  we  shall  sing  together  for  a  little  time,  not 
in  a  formal  way,  but  as  we  often  sing  on  Sunday 
evenings  in  our  homes;    and  those  who  wish  may' 
suggest    beforehand    to    the    leader    their    favorite 
hymns. 

"Then  we  shall  pray  together  for  a  little  time,  for 
the  things  that  we  really  need  and  want,  and  for  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  for  our  fellow-men;    but  no 

*  Several  significant  additions  to  the  regular  services  of  the  church 
were  made  during  this  period.  In  1885,  at  the  special  request  of  the  pas- 
tor, it  was  decided  to  keep  the  church  open  all  summer,  a  custom  that, 
with  a  few  interruptions  for  special  reasons,  has  been  followed  ever  since. 
In  1888,  a  service  was  held  in  the  church  on  the  morning  of  Christmas 
Day.  In  1891,  a  service  was  announced  for  the  Friday  preceding  Easter, 
but  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  name  "  Good  Friday  "  was  avoided 
in  the  notice.  A  special  appeal  from  the  pastor  urged  all  the  members  of  the 
congregation  to  make  an  effort  to  attend.  No  allusion  whatever  to  "East- 
er "  was  made  in  the  printed  announcements  for  Easter  Sunday  that  year, 
though  the  day  was  doubtless  recognized  in  the  sermon  and  the  music.  In 
1893,  an  "Easter  Service"  in  the  Sunday-school  was  announced  by  name. 


REJUVENATED  391 

one  will  ever  be  asked  to  lead  in  prayer  unless  the 
minister  knows  that  he  is  willing  to  do  so. 

"Then  we  shall  study  together  for  a  little  time; 
and  the  subject  during  this  winter  will  be  the  life  of 
St.  Paul.  .  .  .  Every  week  a  paper  will  be  distrib- 
uted giving  an  outline  of  what  the  minister  is  to 
speak  about  on  the  following  Wednesday.  ...  If 
any  suggestions  or  difficulties  occur  to  you  during  the 
week,  the  minister  begs  that  you  will  make  a  note  of 
them  and  send  them  to  him  beforehand.  You  may 
feel  very  sure  that  they  will  be  welcome;  and  you 
may  feel  equally  sure  that  you  will  not  be  called  upon 
to  answer  any  questions  in  the  meeting,  if  that  would 
embarrass  or  displease  you. 

"You^can  easily  understand,  then,  what  it  is  we 
want  to  do  with  this  Wednesday  evening  hour.  It 
is  to  make  it  a  little  less  formal  and  more  really  useful 
and  helpful  and  pleasant.  It  will  not  be  merely  a 
feeble  copy  of  a  Sunday  morning  service;  it  will  be 
a  common-sense  meeting,  in  which  we  can  come 
closer  together  in  our  study  of  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  and  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  .  .  ."  * 

One  immediate  result  of  the  meetings  thus  an- 
nounced was  a  movement  to  change  the  character 
of  the  room  in  which  they  were  held — "the  lecture- 

*  This  programme  for  the  mid-week  service  was  only  one  of  those 
adopted  during  this  decade,  the  danger  of  too  long  a  continuance  of  "one 
good  custom"  being  realized.  Thus  in  December,  1892,  the  following  plan 
was  adopted,  having  been  proposed  by  Dr.  van  Dyke:  "The  first  Wednes- 
day evening  in  each  month,  a  meeting  in  the  interest  of  missions;  the 
second  Wednesday  evening,  a  lecture  or  Bible  study;  the  third  Wednesday 
evening,  a  conference  meeting;  the  fourth  Wednesday  evening,  a  lecture 
or  Bible  study;  the  fifth  Wednesday  evening,  a  conference  meeting."  Two 
elders  and  a  committee  of  the  men  of  the  congregation  were  to  "aid  the 
pastor  in  carrying  out  the  details  of  the  plan," 


392  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

room"  as  it  was  called — and  to  make  it,  like  the 
meetings,  "a  little  less  formal  and  more  really  useful 
and  helpful  and  pleasant."  Without  any  expense  to 
the  trustees  a  committee  of  the  laymen  removed  the 
old  set  pews  and  the  pipe  organ,  which  had  made 
the  room  a  sort  of  little  church,  and  provided  instead 
a  large  open  room,  whose  simple,  cheerful  decor- 
ation, movable  chairs,  inconspicuous  platform,  and 
piano  for  the  singing,  made  such  a  meeting  as 
Dr.  van  Dyke  projected  much  more  easy  and  nat- 
ural. 

What  the  practical  Christian  activities  of  the  con- 
gregation were  during  this  period  is  compactly  stated 
in  the  historical  sermon  of  1893,  already  several  times 
quoted.  "Ten  years  ago,"  said  Dr.  van  Dyke,  "your 
home  Sunday-school  was  dying;  there  were,  perhaps, 
ten  children  in  it;  two  faithful  teachers  and  a  loyal 
assistant  superintendent  watched  by  its  bed.  To- 
day it  is  a  vigorous  little  school  of  about  a  hun- 
dred members,  well  equipped  for  work,  growing, 
and  sending  out  generous  contributions  to  missions 
and  a  steady  supply  of  teachers  for  your  branch 
Sunday-school  of  seven  hundred  members  in  West 
Thirty-fifth  Street.  *  Ten  years  ago  your  Deacon's 
Fund  for  the  care  of  the  poor  was  in  debt  $500 ;  to-day 

*  This  resurrection  of  the  Sunday-school  was  one  item  in  the  long  and 
varied  service  rendered  to  the  church  by  Dr.  Albert  R.  Ledoux.  Upon  his 
resignation  of  the  office  of  superintendent  of  the  school  in  1892,  the  session 
in  a  resolution  declared  that  they  "accept  with  regret  Dr.  Ledoux's  resig- 
nation. .  .  .  and  that  they  place  upon  record  their  grateful  sense  of  the 
large  value  of  the  service  he  has  rendered  to  the  church  in  this  office  for  the 
last  ten  years,  strengthening  its  spiritual  life,  and  bringing  its  young  people 
into  close  and  living  connection  with  the  work  and  worship  of  the  church. 
For  this  work  so  faithfully  and  so  quietly  done  the  session  would  express 
the  thanks  of  the  church  to  Dr.  Ledoux." 


REJUVENATED  393 

it  has  an  emergency  fund  of  nearly  $1,000.  Ten  years 
ago  there  were  two  active  working  societies  in  connec- 
tion with  the  church;  to-day  there  are  eight:  The 
Woman's  Employment  Society,*  The  Industrial 
School,  t  The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  J 
The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society, §  The  Sick 
Children's  Aid  Society,  The  Young  People's  Guild, 
The  Woman's  Prayer-Meeting,  The  Pastor's  Aid  Soci- 
ety. You  have  sent  out  a  missionary  of  your  own  to 
China.  You  have  supported  a  missionary  of  your  own 
in  the  City  Mission,  and  two  visitors  among  the  poor. 
You  have  sent  thousands  of  poor  children  into  the 
country  in  the  summer  time.  You  have  contributed 
$10,000  as  a  memorial  offering  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Relief  for  Disabled  Ministers.  You 
have  established  a  flourishing  free  kindergarten  II 
among  the  poor  of  the  city.  .  .  .  During  these 
ten  years  your  total  contributions  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  gospel  and  the  work  of  Christianity  in 
this  city  and  throughout  the  world  amount  to  about 
$390,000.  And  your  gifts  for  home  and  foreign 
missions,  as  reported  in  the  minutes  of  the  General 
Assembly,  have  risen  from  $3,000  a  year  in  1883,  to 
$6,000  a  year  in  1892.  It  is  your  hope  and  expecta- 
tion to  do  more  in  the  future,  but  for  the  past  you 
thank  and  bless  God  who  has  prospered  your  labors 
and  given  to  you  so  liberally  that  you  have  been  en- 

*  See  above,  p.  329. 

t  That  is,  the  sewing-school  in  West  Thirty-fifth  Street.  See  above, 
p.  345. 

t  Founded  in  1886. 

§  Founded  in  1884. 

II  The  Murray  Kindergarten  in  West  Thirty-fifth  Street,  organized 
under  the  direction  of  the  N.  Y.  Kindergarten  Association,  by  the  women 
of  the  Sick  Children's  Aid  Society.    See  above,  p.  354  note. 


594  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 


abled  to  do  something  for  his  kingdom  and  for 
your  fellow-men."  * 

Of  the  numerous  societies  mentioned  in  Dr.  van 
Dyke's  summary  two  or  three  deserve  a  more  ex- 
tended mention. 

The  Sick  Children's  Aid  Society  was  the  out- 
growth of  that  other  organization  with  a  somewhat 
similar  name  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
founded  in  Dr.  Murray's  time,  but  subsequently  had 
more  or  less  declined,  because  the  boys  and  girls  who 
originally  composed  "The  Children's  Society,"  grew 
up  in  the  process  of  time,  and  there  did  not  seem  to 
be  others  in  the  church  to  take  their  place.  Their 
work,  however,  whose  purpose  was  to  minister  to  the 
children  connected  with  the  mission,  especially  those 
who  were  sick,  was  not  abandoned.  The  children  of 
the  society  had  always  been  directed  by  their  moth- 
ers and  other  older  women,  and  by  these  the  work  was 
carried  on.  There  was  an  intermediate  period  during 
which  the  society  hardly  knew  whether  to  regard  itself 
as  a  children's  organization  or  merely  as  an  organiza- 
tion that  worked  for  children — this  transition  state  is 
indicated  in  the  records  by  an  evident  uncertainty  in 
regard  to  the  society's  name,  which  appears  now  as 
the  Sick  Children's  Society  and  again  as  the  Chil- 

*  "An  Historic  Church,"  pp.  27-30.  In  introducing  this  summary  of 
the^decade's  achievements,  Dr.  van  Dyke  had  said:  "It  is  the  custom  of 
ministers,  in  preaching  their  anniversary  sermons,  to  give  an  account  of 
their  labors,  to  tell  how  many  discourses  they  have  delivered,  how  many 
visits  they  have  made,  how  many  baptisms,  weddings  and  funerals  they 
have  performed.  I  shall  not  follow  this  custom,  for  I  do  not  feel  I  have 
done  anything  to  speak  of.  I  will  only  confess  that  I  have  worked  hard, 
both  from  necessity  and  from  inclination.  But  my  purpose  to-day  is  to 
tell  what  you  have  done  during  these  ten  years,  for  this  is  your  church 
and  you  have  made  it  what  it  is."    p.  25. 


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REJUVENATED  395 

dren's  Aid  Society — but  finally,  at  the  time  of  Dr. 
van  Dyke's  arrival,  the  transformation  had  become 
complete,  and  at  his  suggestion  the  work  was  entirely 
reorganized  as  a  work  of  the  women  of  the  church, 
and  called  the  Sick  Children's  Aid  Society,  a  com- 
bination of  the  earlier  tentative  titles,  and  the  name 
under  Avhich  this  beautiful  work  has  ever  since  been 
carried  on.  * 

At  about  the  same  time,  it  may  here  be  parentheti- 
cally observed,  a  new  organization  was  created  for  the 
boys  and  girls,  and  in  order  that  it  might  not  be 
avoided  by  the  older  ones  among  them,  who  might 
object  to  being  classified  as  "children,"  it  was  dip- 
lomatically called  the  Young  People's  Guild.  Its 
work  resembled  that  of  the  earlier  children's  society, 
— the  dressing  of  dolls,  the  making  of  garments,  the 
pasting  of  scrap-books,  the  holding  of  an  annual  fair 
— and  it  continued  to  exist  until  1895. 

But  to  return  to  the  related  organization  among 
the  older  women.  Soon  after  it  had  begun  work 
under  the  new  name,  the  need  arose  to  procure  a 
visitor  to  take  the  place  of  Miss  Griffiths,  who  had 
died  in  the  service.  The  Sick  Children's  Aid  Society 
determined  to  assume  responsibility  for  her  salary, 
and  secured  the  services  of  Miss  Mary  Ziesse.  f  To 
this  devoted  worker,  whose  ministry  has  continued  to 
the  present  time,  the  success  of  the  work  has  been  in 

*  Among  those  who  joined  in  the  reorganization  of  the  society  were 
Mrs.  W.  D.  Barbour,  Mrs.  James  F.  Bills,  Mrs.  C.  R.  Blakeman,  Mrs.  L.  D. 
Bulkley,  Mrs.  M.  P.  Corning,  the  Misses  Harmer,  Mrs.  D.  J.  Holden,  Miss 
Louise  Knox,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Ledoux,  the  Misses  Martin,  Mrs.  Alexander 
McLean,  Miss  Anna  Olyphant,  Mrs.  Robert  Olyphant,  Miss  Susan  Parish, 
Miss  Porterfield,  Miss  Roberts,  Mrs.  W.  T.  Shedd,  Mrs.  van  Dyke,  Mrs. 
A.  A.  Wilson. 

t  She  began  work  on  January  1st,  1885. 


396  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

a  large  measure  due.  Her  "untiring  faithfulness  and 
discriminating  good  sense"  *  were  early  recognized 
and  have  constantly  called  for  grateful  acknowl- 
edgment, t 

The  special  work  undertaken  by  the  Sick  Chil- 
dren's Aid  Society  is  indicated  with  suflScient  clear- 
ness by  its  name,  but  the  service  actually  rendered 
was  limited  by  no  set  boundary.  Beginning  with 
ministry  to  sick  and  destitute  children  connected  with 
the  West  Side  Sunday-school — the  provision  of 
food  and  medicine  and  medical  attendance,  and  the 
arrangements  for  summer  outings  in  the  country — 
the  visitor  soon  discovered  all  sorts  of  other  needs  by 
the  way,  and  wherever  a  need  was  met  the  effort  was 
made  to  meet  it.  If  a  family  was  found  to  be  in- 
sufficiently clothed,  garments  were  provided.  The 
summer  outings  were  extended  to  include  not  only  the 
mothers  with  their  babies,  but  working  girls,  who 
were  neither  "children"  nor  "sick"  but  none  the. 
less  in  need  of  this  service.  At  Christmas  and  Thanks- 
giving the  society  adopted  the  custom  of  providing 
dinners  for  worthy  poor  families.  Mothers'  meetings 
were  organized;  a  station  of  the  Penny  Provident 
Fund  was  opened;  a  kindergarten,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  established.  There  was  no  telling  to  what  new 
enterprise  the  energies  of  this  vigorous  society 
might  not  be  directed.    And  all  the  time  its  blessed 

*  "Year  Book,  1888-1889,"  p.  27. 

t  No  one  person  has  known  the  people  connected  with  the  West  Side 
work  of  the  Brick  Church — men,  women,  and  children — during  the  past 
twenty  years,  as  thoroughly  as  Miss  Ziesse  has,  nor  would  it  be  easy  to  tell 
of  how  many  of  them  she  has  been  the  best  friend.  In  addition  to  her 
work  as  visitor  she  has  had  charge  of  several  important  departments  of  the 
work. 


REJUVENATED  397 

work  of  personal  visitation  was  going  on  from  day 
to  day — hundreds,  sometimes  literally  thousands,  of 
visits  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

The  Pastor's  Aid  Society,  another  of  the  new 
agencies  in  the  list  given  a  few  pages  back,  was  organ- 
ized by  the  men  of  the  church  at  the  very  beginning  of 
Dr.  van  Dyke's  pastorate,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
assistance  to  him  by  furnishing  teachers  in  both  the 
home  and  branch  Sunday-schools  and  to  aid  in  any 
other  work  that  might  present  itself.  It  was  thus  a 
successor  of  the  similar  organizations  started  in  the 
time  of  Dr.  Hoge  and  during  Dr.  Bevan's  pastorate, 
but  it  was  destined  to  run  a  much  longer  course. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  its  labor  increased 
as  time  passed.  In  1887,  we  find  it  carrying  on  its 
work  through  five  committees,  including  one  on 
''charities,"*  and  one  on  "  strangers."  f  At  this 
time  monthly  meetings  were  held  at  the  parsonage  or 
some  other  private  house,  and  included  an  address 
by  one  of  the  members  or  by  a  friend  from  outside.  J 
Subsequently  the  meetings  were  held  at  the  church 
rooms  and  were  "entirely  social  and  informal  in 
their  character."  In  the  report  for  the  year  1889- 
1890,  the  following  matters  are  mentioned  as  having 
been  discussed  and  acted  upon:  "the  transformation 
of  the  Wednesday  evening  prayer-meetings  into  a 
most  valuable  course  of  Bible  instruction ;  the  change 


*  For  rendering  aid  to  the  sick,  persons  out  of  eniployment,  etc. 

t  This  included  the  ushering  at  the  church  services. 

X  The  first  recorded  hst  of  subjects  (for  the  season  1886-1887)  is  inter- 
esting: "The  Subway  Commission  and  its  Work,"  by  Dr.  A.  R.  Ledoux; 
"East  and  West"  (historical),  by  Prof.  Wilham  M.  Sloane;  "Bohemia, 
Its  People,  and  Their  Religious  Work  in  this  Country,"  by  Rev.  Vincent 
Pisek;   "Things  in  Heaven  Above  and  Below,"  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Oilman. 


398  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

from  pulpit  notices  to  the  publication  of  a  weekly 
bulletin  of  announcements ;  *  the  adoption  of  better 
methods  of  welcoming  occasional  visitors  to  the 
church  services;  the  alteration  and  improvement  of 
the  chapel  and  the  charitable  disposition  of  the  re- 
placed furniture ;  the  interchange  of  information  with 
a  view  to  obtaining  positions  for  unemployed  per- 
sons; the  voluntary  and  unremunerated  assistance  ren- 
dered by  our  doctors  and  lawyers  to  the  suffering  and 
wronged  poor" — from  which  enumeration  it  will  be 
evident  that  several  of  the  important  enterprises  men- 
tioned in  an  earlier  portion  of  this  chapter  were  either 
originated  or  furthered  by  the  Pastor's  Aid  Society. 

The  most  interesting  single  event  of  the  decade 
under  discussion  remains  to  be  described.  It  con- 
cerned the  work  which  had  grown  out  of  the  mission 
Sunday-school  on  the  West  Side.  This  work,  which 
from  the  beginning  had  taken  a  chief  place  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Brick  Church  people,  and  which  at 
some  periods  of  discouragement  had  been  the  one 
really  bright  and  hopeful  feature  of  the  church's  life, 
continued  to  hold  its  place  of  importance  after  Dr. 
van  Dyke's  arrival.  In  1885,  the  cost  of  maintaining 
the  whole  group  of  enterprises  on  West  Thirty-fifth 
Street  was  between  four  and  five  thousand  dollars, 
from  which  it  will  be  evident  to  what  large  propor- 
tions the  work  had  grown. 

In  1888  it  appeared  to  many,  especially  to  the  pas- 
tor of  the  mission,  Mr.  Lampe,  that  the  time  had 
come  when  the  chapel,  which  was  gradually  being 
prepared  for  independence,  as  has  already  been  re- 

*  A  most  valuable  part  of  the  machinery  of  the  church,  edited  with 
great  faithfulness  and  skill  for  many  years  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Bergstresser. 


REJUVENATED  399 

lated,  should  now  be  organized  as  a  church.  The 
Brick  Church  session  were  disposed  to  view  this 
measure  with  favor  and  took  up  with  patience  the 
devising  of  a  plan  by  which  the  evident  difficulties 
incident  to  such  a  step  might  successfully  be  met. 

The  problem  was  to  secure  to  the  new  church  the 
advantages  of  a  genuine  independence,  without  en- 
dangering through  possible  mismanagement  the  large 
interests  of  the  kingdom  which  were  involved.  To 
effect  the  merely  ecclesiastical  part  of  the  separation 
was  easy  enough.  It  was  merely  necessary  to  organ- 
ize a  new  church  according  to  the  prescribed  form 
and  dismiss  to  it  the  chapel  members  of  the  Brick 
Church,  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  in  number. 
Beyond  this  point  the  way  was  not  so  clear. 

Should  the  management  of  the  Sunday-school,  for 
instance,  be  turned  over  to  the  new  church,  or  re- 
tained by  the  Brick  Church  session  ?  In  spite  of 
considerable  discontent  among  Mr.  Lampe's  people, 
the  latter  course  was  firmly  insisted  upon.  A 
second  question  concerned  the  future  ownership 
of  the  property  involved,  though  this  could  hardly 
be  called  a  question,  for  the  Brick  Church  held  that 
a  surrender  of  its  rights  and  duties  in  that  connec- 
tion was  not  to  be  thought  of ;  and  the  wisdom  of 
this  position  was  strikingly  proved  almost  at  once  by 
the  discovery  of  a  strong  disposition  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Lampe  and  his  congregation  to  leave  the  neigh- 
borhood of  West  Thirty-fifth  Street  altogether  and 
migrate  to  some  point  farther  uptown.  Had  they 
had  a  deciding  voice  in  the  matter,  this  undoubtedly 
would  have  been  attempted. 

The  third  question,   and  the  one  that  most  ad- 


400  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

mitted  of  debate,  concerned  the  future  relation  of  the 
Brick  Church  to  the  support  of  the  independent  con- 
gregation. A  chief  object  of  the  whole  plan,  of 
course,  was  to  encourage  and  hasten  complete  self- 
support.  It  was  felt  that,  as  long  as  the  older  and 
stronger  church  held  itself  responsible  for  the  ongo- 
ing of  the  work,  there  would  be  but  little  incentive  to 
the  daughter  organization  to  shoulder  the  burden  in 
earnest.  Could  not  provision  be  made,  in  connection 
with  the  granting  of  ecclesiastical  independence,  for 
the  speedy  achievement  of  financial  independence  also.? 
With  this  object  in  view  it  was  proposed  that,  be- 
ginning with  $2,000  for  the  current  year,  *  the  Brick 
Church  contribution  should  be  $300  less  for  the  year 
following,  and  should  be  decreased  by  $400  annu- 
ally thereafter  until  discontinued  altogether,  as 
would  occur,  according  to  this  plan,  in  the  course  of 
six  years.  Not  unnaturally  Mr.  Lampe's  congrega- 
tion took  fright  at  this  rapid  promotion  to  complete 
responsibility,  and  expressed  themselves  as  unable 
to  accept  these  conditions.  A  new  proposal  was 
then  made  by  the  Brick  Church  to  the  effect  "that 
the  amount  already  raised  this  year,  as  suggested  in 
the  former  proposition,  should  be  paid,  and  for  the 
year  1889  the  sum  of  $1 ,850 ;  and  that  on  or  before  the 
first  day  of  January,  1890,  a  new  arrangement  should 
be  entered  into,  based  upon  the  prospects  of  the  new 
enterprise,  as  they  should  then  appear."  This  prop- 
osition was  at  once  unanimously  accepted,  "the  com- 
mittee of  the  mission  further  pledging  themselves  to 

*  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  provided  for  the  expenses  of  the 
new  church  only;  the  Sunday-school,  sewing-school,  etc.,  were  still  to  be 
supported  directly  by  the  Brick  Church. 


REJUVENATED  401 

make  every  effort  in  their  power  to  raise  as  large  a 
sum  as  possible."  * 

On  June  6th,  1888,  the  session  accordingly  au- 
thorized the  clerk  to  issue,  to  the  three  hundred  and 
forty-six  members  worshipping  at  the  chapel,  letters 
of  dismission  to  the  new  church,  when  it  should  be 
organized.  They  also  nominated  six  elders  and  four 
deacons,  and  they  recommended  that  the  new  church 
adopt  the  name  "Christ  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
City  of  New  York."  On  the  same  evening  Christ 
Church  was  duly  organized  by  the  committee  of 
Presbytery,  and  Mr.  Lampe  was  chosen  as  the  pastor. 

Thus  was  completed  an  undertaking  in  which  the 
Brick  Church,  disregarding  its  own  feeling  in  the 
matter,  and  seeking  with  singleness  of  purpose  to  act 
for  the  best  interests  of  those  who  had  formed  its 
mission  and  of  the  Church  at  large,  had  set  an  ex- 
ample of  unselfishness  and  established  a  precedent 
in  the  management  of  so-called  "mission"  enter- 
prises, whose  influence  has  been  far-reaching.  The 
new  and  peculiar  relationship  was  not  always,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  free  from  its  perplexities  in 
succeeding  years.  Misunderstanding  and  friction 
occasionally  made  their  appearance;  and  time  and 
the  grace  of  God  were  needed  to  show  the  full  possi- 
bilities of  fellowship  and  mutual  service,  which  were 
presented  by  this  league  of  two"  affiliated  " f  churches. 

*  In  1890  the  sum  contributed  by  the  Brick  Church  was  $1,600.  In 
1891  and  again  in  1892  it  had  been  reduced  to  $1,350.  After  that  this  item 
being  merged  apparently  in  the  expenses  of  the  branch  Sunday-school, 
cannot  easily  be  ascertained. 

t  This  name  was  not  used  at  the  beginning.  References  to  Christ 
Church  in  the  records  commonly  employ  the  term  "Auxiliary"  until  1894, 
when  the  more  fraternal  word  begins  to  take  its  place. 


402  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

In  a  later  chapter  we  shall  arrive  at  the  period  when 
at  length  patience  had  her  perfect  work. 

It  would  carry  us  too  far  afield  to  notice  in  detail 
the  share  which  the  Brick  Church  pastor  was  taking 
at  this  time  in  the  larger  movements  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that  in  this 
period  the  question  of  a  revision  of  the  Presbyterian 
standards  was  being  vigorously  discussed,  and 
especially  that  the  Church  was  called  to  go  through 
a  severe  experience  in  a  famous  trial  for  heresy  before 
the  New  York  Presbytery,  afterward  appealed  to  the 
General  Assembly.  In  both  these  matters,  Dr.  van 
Dyke  took  a  prominent  and  influential  part,  and, 
what  is  here  most  important  to  note,  his  influence, 
due  primarily  to  his  own  acknowledged  wisdom  and 
personal  power,  was  greatly  increased  by  the  fact 
that  he  spoke  and  acted  as  the  minister  of  a  church 
which  had  taken  its  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
churches  of  the  denomination.  In  short.  Dr.  van' 
Dyke's  ideal,  as  he  set  it  before  himself  in  the  be- 
ginning of  his  pastorate,  had  been  realized  in  full 
measure:  the  Brick  Church  was  now  once  more  an 
acknowledged  leader  in  the  work  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  fulfilment  of  this  purpose 
in  sight,  than  another  came  forward  to  take  its  place. 
It  was  not  enough  to  make  strong  the  church's  posi- 
tion in  the  present;  the  future  must  also  be  provided 
for,  that  future  in  which  the  northward  movement 
of  population,  responsible  already  for  one  change  in 
the  location  of  the  church,  would  make  it  increas- 
ingly difficult  to  maintain  a  strong  church  on  Mur- 
ray Hill.    "Endowment"  was  the  word  that  seemed 


REJUVENATED  403 

to  point  out  clearly  the  next  problem  for  the  church 
to  face  and  solve,  and  this,  it  is  important  to  notice, 
constituted  the  practical  application  of  Dr.  van 
Dyke's  tenth  anniversary  sermon,  from  which  quo- 
tations have  been  freely  taken  for  the  material  of 
this  chapter.  * 

"Let  us  provide  for  the  future,"  he  said,  "by  tak- 
ing measures  at  once  to  secure  the  permanence  of 
this  historic  church  where  it  now  stands,  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  as  a  tower  of  strength,  a  landmark 
— nay,  better  than  that,  a  light-house,  a  source  of 
saving  illumination,  through  the  coming  years.  .  .  . 
There  is  very  little  that  endures  in  this  city ;  localities 
are  altered,  houses  vanish;  how  beautiful  it  would  be 
to  think  that  this  house,  where  you  and  those  whom 
you  love  have  prayed  and  communed  with  God, 
shall  not  vanish,  but  that  in  the  distant  years  others 
shall  come,  and  kneel  here,  and  say  in  their  hearts, 
'  Here  my  father  and  mother,  here  my  grandparents, 
here  those  whose  memory  I  love  and  cherish,  wor- 
shipped and  served  the  living  God!*  How  beautiful 
it  w^ould  be,  to  think  that  the  influences   of  grace 

*  The  church  up  to  this  time  had  practically  no  invested  funds,  nor  did 
it  own  other  land  than  that  which  it  actually  used  in  its  work.  A  few 
small  legacies  had,  from  time  to  time,  been  received.  Early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  a  few  hundred  dollars  had  been  bequeathed  by  William 
Irving,  father  of  Washington  Irving,  and  Ebenezer  Turwell  (or  Turrell). 
The  Catharine  Ryan  legacy  for  the  use  of  the  charity  scholars  has  al- 
ready been  mentioned  (p.  210).  In  1847,  Mr.  Colin  Read  bequeathed 
$5,000  to  the  Brick  Church  to  be  used  in  aid  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
After  1873,  in  accordance  with  the  more  modern  view  that  theological 
students  should  not  be  taught  to  regard  themselves  as  objects  of  charity, 
the  interest  from  this  fund  has  been  paid  to  divinity  students  (usually  of 
Union  Theological  Seminary)  in  return  for  services  rendered  in  the  Sun- 
day-school on  the  AVest  Side.  In  1876,  a  bequest  of  $5,000,  whose  interest 
should  be  used  for  the  mission  school,  was  received  from  Mr.  Peter  Naylor. 
Mr.  John  C.  Tucker,  who  died  in  1892,  left  $1,000  for  a  similar  purpose. 


404  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

should  flow  from  this  place  forever,  and  the  gospel 
of  Christ  be  preached  here  to  all  comers."  * 

A  partial  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  thus 
expressed  was  speedily  to  be  achieved  in  an  unex- 
pected manner,  not  by  the  gathering  of  individual 
subscriptions  for  an  endowment  fund,  but  by  the  in- 
corporation into  the  Brick  Church  of  another  distinct 
church  of  Christ,  whose  property  would  make  at 
least  a  substantial  beginning  of  the  endowment 
needed.  What  this  event  signified,  however,  and 
how  much  greater  treasure  than  that  of  money  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  brought  into  the  Brick 
Church  in  1894,  can  be  appreciated  only  after  some 
account  has  been  given  of  the  Covenant  people  and 
what  they  stood  for,  and  the  work  they  had  been 
doing.  To  give  this  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  next 
chapter. 

*  "An  Historic  Church,"  pp.  36-38. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT: 

1862-1894 

"I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  you." — Isaiah,  55  :  3. 

"  Come  and  let  us  join  ourselves  to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  covenant  that  shall 
not  be  forgotten." — Jeremiah,- 50  :  5. 

"A  church,  after  all,  is  a  sort  of  religious  home;  its  peculiar  offices  and  attach- 
ments are  largely  domestic  in  their  character;  its  members  are  a  Christian  family, 
bound  together  by  ties  of  Christian  sympathy,  labor,  and  fellowship." — George  L. 
Prentiss,  "Eleven  Years  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,"  1873,  p.  28. 

IN  the  fall  of  the  year  1860  were  taken  the  first 
steps  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant.  *  Dr.  George  Lewis  Prentiss, 
formerly  pastor  of  the  Mercer  Street  Presbyterian 
Church,  had  just  returned  from  a  two  years'  absence 
in  Europe,  made  necessary  by  ill  health,  f  He  came 
back  restored  in  vigor,  and  a  number  of  his  friends 
and  former  parishioners  immediately  began  a  move- 
ment for  the  establishment  of  a  new  church  on  Mur- 
ray Hill  with  Dr.  Prentiss  at  its  head.     Like  the 

*  The  history  contained  in  this  chapter  will  be  told,  wherever  possible, 
in  the  words  of  those  who  were  the  leading  figures  in  it. 

t  Dr.  Prentiss  was  born  in  Gorham,  Maine,  May  16th,  1816.  He  was 
graduated  from  Bowdoin  College,  studied  later  in  New  York  and  in  Europe 
for  several  years.  In  1845  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the 
South  Trinitarian  Church  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  and  shortly  after  mar- 
ried Miss  Elizabeth  Payson  of  Portland.  In  1850  he  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  as  associate  pastor,  but  a 
few  months  later  resigned  to  take  the  pastorate  of  the  Mercer  Street 
Church  in  New  York,  which  he  served  until  compelled  by  illness  to  resign 
in  1858. 

405 


406  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

Mercer  Street  Church,  of  which  it  was  practically  an 
offshoot,  it  was  to  be  a  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
New  School,  which  accounts  for  the  choice  of  a  loca- 
tion so  near  to  that  of  the  Brick  Church. 

The  beginning  of  the  movement  is  described  for 
us  by  Dr.  Prentiss  himself.*    "The  first  religious 
service,"  he  says,  "which  issued  in  the  organization 
of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  was  held  in  the  chapel 
of   the   Home   of   the   Friendless,    in   Twenty-ninth 
Street  near  Madison  Avenue,  on  the  last  Sunday  in 
November,  1860.     It  had  been  decided  upon,  after 
much  thought,  and  was  the  result  of  a  strong  and 
general  conviction,  that  a  new  Presbyterian  church 
was  needed  uptown  in  the  vicinity  of  Murray  Hill. 
.  .  .  But  although  the  movement  itself  was  felt  to 
be    highly  important,  the   time  seemed  most    unfa- 
vorable for  entering  upon  such  a  work.    In  my  first 
sermon  on  the  Sunday  mentioned  (it  was,  you  will 
remember,  November  25th,  1860,  only  two  or  three 
weeks  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  more 
than  four  months  before  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter), 
I  thus  referred  to  this  point :   '  The  state  of  the  times, 
I  confess,  does  not,  at  first  thought,  seem  auspicious 
for  the  success  of  our  work.    Our  dear  country  is  in 
the  throes  of  a  great  trouble;   fear  is  on  every  hand; 
the  most  hopeful  patriotism  is  smitten  with  anxious 
forebodings;   we  know  not,  we  dread  to  guess,  what 
awful    calamity    may    be    impending    over    us.  .  .  . 
But,  after  all,  is  such  a  time  as  this  really  unfavorable 
to  the  beginning  of  a  new  religious  work  ?  .  .  .  God 
can  make  the  hardest  times  illustrate  all  the  more 
beautifully  at  once  his  own  providential  hand  and  the 

*  "Eleven  Years  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant, "  (1873),  pp.  4  ff. 


C'.EORCE    I..   PRENTI88 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   407 

munificent  temper  of  his  children.  "Troublous 
times"  are  the  very  ones  in  which  the  walls  of  Zion 
have  usually  been  built ;  in  which  the  grandest  monu- 
ments of  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  saints  have 
been  erected.  .  .  .' 

"During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1861,  the 
long-gathering  storm  burst  upon  the  country  in  all 
its  fury.  I  need  only  recall  the  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter,  the  great  uprising  of  the  people  that  in- 
stantly followed,  and  the  disastrous  defeat  at  Bull 
Run.  As  I  look  back  to  those  terrible  days,  my  sole 
wonder  is  that  we  did  not  disband  on  the  spot.  We 
should  certainly  have  done  so,  had  not  the  movement 
been  sustained  from  the  first,  not  only  by  strong  and 
devoted  hearts,  but  by  the  special  favor  of  God. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1861,  our  place  of  meeting  was 
changed  to  Dodworth's  new  studio  building,  on  the 
corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  Street. 
Here,  on  the  evening  of  March  21st,  1862,  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  congregation,  of  which  Dr.  Skinner  was 
the  moderator,  and  B.  F.  Butler,  secretary,  the 
church  was  organized,  and  three  ruling  elders  were 
appointed.  *  The  original  members  were  eighty- 
three  in  number."  •{* 

The  next  step  was  the  election  of  Dr.  Prentiss  to  be 
the  pastor,  and  on  May  11th  he  was  installed.  Not 
until  this  time  was  a  name  for  the  new  church  se- 
lected. "It  was  a  question  of  some  interest,"  says 
Dr.  Prentiss,  "what  the  name  should  be.  A  strong 
repugnance  was  felt  to  the  custom  of  calling  a  Chris- 
tian sanctuary,  and  the  Christian  people  who  occu- 

*  See  Appendix,  M,  p.  530. 
t  See  Appendix,  L,  p.  529. 


408  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

pied  it,  after  a  street  or  a  corner  of  a  street  and 
avenue.  To  say  nothing  of  the  question  of  taste,  the 
historical  identity  of  some  of  our  most  important 
churches  had  thereby,  upon  the  removal  of  the  con- 
gregation to  a  new  locality,  been  wholly  lost  to  the 
public  mind.  After  a  good  deal  of  conversation  on 
the  subject,  we  unanimously  adopted  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant.  It  has  become  a  name  exceed- 
ingly endeared  to  us  and  to  many  all  over  the 
land." 

The  church  was  now  named  and  duly  organized, 
but  as  yet  it  had  no  place  of  worship  of  its  own,  and 
the  awful  events  of  the  war  then  raging  made  diffi- 
cult the  decision  to  enter  upon  an  enterprise  which 
would  have  been  far  from  simple  even  in  a  time  of 
prosperity.  "I  shall  not  easily  forget,"  says  Dr. 
Prentiss,  "the  hour  or  the  incident  which  led  to  this 
decision.  It  was  on  Tuesday  evening,  January  6th, 
1863.  Somewhat  wearied,  not  to  say  disheartened, 
by  our  long  waiting  and  inaction,  I  called  upon  a 
friend  to  talk  the  matter  over  with  him.  To  be,  or 
not  to  be — that  was  the  question.  .  .  .  'Well,'  said 
my  friend,  'I  believe  in  work.  If  you  can  induce 
two  others  of  the  same  mind  to  join  with  me,  I  am 
ready  to  put  my  hand  at  once  to  the  plough.'" 

Mr.  Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  the  speaker,  and  the 
two  others  were  soon  secured,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Leon- 
ard and  Mr.  Enoch  Ketcham.  As  a  result  of  the  un- 
tiring energies  of  these  three,  aided  materially  by  Mr. 
George  B.  de  Forest  and  Mr.  William  E.  Dodge,  the 
lot  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Park  Avenue  and 
Thirty-fifth  Street  was  secured,  and  on  November 
5th  following  the  cornerstone  was  laid. 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   409 

Of  the  circumstances  of  that  auspicious  service  a 
picture  is  presented  to  us  by  one  who  was  a  witness, 
and  upon  whom  the  event  made  a  deep  impression. 
He  recalls  "the  pleasant  autumn  afternoon,  with  the 
heat  of  summer  over,  and  the  city  once  more  made 
cheery  by  the  presence  of  dear  friends  and  neigh- 
bors; the  attractive  neighborhood  of  Thirty-fifth 
Street  and  Park  Avenue— then  far  less  built  up  than 
now;  the  fine  assemblage  of  interested  and  interest- 
ing people  gathered  upon  the  church  site;  the  scaf- 
folding of  new  lumber  rising  above  the  crowd  and 
elevating  those  taking  part  in  the  brief  service ;  the 
heartfelt  prayer;  the  profoundly  touching  hymn  by 
the  late  Mrs.  Prentiss,  a  hymn  filled,  not  only  with 
holy  aspirations  for  the  new  enterprise,  but  a  fine 
sentiment  of  patriotism  that  in  those  days  of  the  war 
for  the  Union  was  deeply  felt  by  all  present."  *  The 
chapel  was  the  first  part  of  the  building  completed 
(in  May,  1864),  and  the  church  itself  was  opened 
and  dedicated  on  April  30th,  1865.  f 

The  congregation  thus  provided  with  a  home  was 
at  first  small,  but  it  included  men  and  women  of 
singularly  noble  Christian  character  and  unusual  abil- 
ity, while  the  very  fact  of  their  small  number  resulted 
in  increased  individual  effort,  and  what  was  still 
more  important,  in  a  very  strong  and  intimate  union 
of  all  the  members  to  one  another.  In  a  deg-ree 
rarely  known  in  city  churches  the  people  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  constituted  one  household 

*  From  an  address  by  Mr.  J.  Cleveland  Cady,  delivered  December 
16th,  1894,  unpublished. 

t  The  cost  of  the  church,  chapel,  and  adjoining  parsonage  (completed 
in  1867),  including  land,  organ,  and  church  and  chapel  furniture,  was 
$160,000. 


410  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

of  faith,  bound  together  by  deep  personal  attach- 
ments, and  inspired  by  a  common  purpose. 

What  this  purpose  was  is  well  expressed  by  their 
pastor.  "I  have  observed,"  he  says,  "that  churches, 
like  private  Christians,  have  their  peculiar  type  and 
individuality  of  character.  It  was  my  earnest  desire, 
from  the  first,  that  this  church  might  be  marked  by  a 
vivid  consciousness  of  the  real  presence  and  glory  of 
the  risen  Christ;  by  simple  whole-hearted  devotion 
to  him  as  a  Friend  and  a  Saviour;  and  by  constant 
growth  into  his  image ;  as  it  was  my  prayer  from  the 
first  that  Christ  himself  might  vouchsafe  to  dwell  in  it 
in  all  the  fulness  of  his  grace  and  truth."  All  who 
knew  the  church,  who  attended  its  services  and 
prayer-meetings,  and  had  opportunity  to  observe 
the  spirit  by  which  the  church  life  was  animated,  will 
bear  witness  that  the  prayer  of  Dr.  Prentiss  was  in 
no  small  measure  answered.  He  had  warrant  for 
his  belief,  confidently  expressed  at  a  later  time,  that 
"Christ  Himself  has  been  veritably  present  with 
this  church,  and  has  wrought  in  and  through  it  dur- 
ing all  these  years." 

One  of  the  clearest  manifestations  of  the  Master's 
presence  was  the  beginning,  almost  as  soon  as  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  was  itself  started,  of  a  mis- 
sion work  on  the  East  Side  of  the  city.  This  important 
step  resulted  from  a  young  men's  prayer-meeting, 
which  met  once  a  month  on  Sunday  afternoons  under 
the  leadership  of  Mr.  J.  Cleveland  Cady,  beginning 
in  the  fall  of  1865.  Among  those  who  attended 
soon  grew  up  "a  general  desire  for  a  field  of  labor 
especially  their  own,"  and  after  earnest  debate  they 
decided  to  start  a  mission  Sunday-school. 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   411 

When  the  time  came  to  find  a  hall  or  room  where 
the  projected  school  could  meet,  the  best  quarters  that 
could  be  found  were  over  a  stable  at  No.  206  East 
Fortieth  Street.  No  doubt  pleasanter  surroundings 
would  have  been  selected,  had  they  been  available, 
yet  the  friends  of  the  school  have  often  reflected  with 
pleasure  upon  the  fact  that  even  in  the  humble  place 
of  its  origin  the  Covenant  Mission  was  not  unlike  its 
Master,  whose  cradle  was  a  manger. 

At  the  first  meeting  *  there  were  twelve  teachers 
ready  for  classes,  but  only  one  scholar  could  be 
found,  a  singular  reversal,  it  has  been  pointed  out, 
of  the  text,  *'The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the 
laborers  are  few."  These  twelve  modern  apostles, 
however,  were  not  to  be  discouraged  by  a  small  be- 
ginning, and  soon  they  saw  more  ample  results  of 
their  labors. 

A  pleasant  picture  of  the  school-room  has  been 
given  us  by  the  man  most  closely  identified  with  the 
whole  enterprise,  Mr.  Cady,  who,  except  for  the  first 
few  months,  has  been  the  school's  only  superin- 
tendent, f  a  record  of  more  than  forty  years  of  con- 
tinuous and  devoted  service.  J  Under  his  guidance, 
we  will  take  a  glimpse  at  the  school  as  it  appeared  in 
its  early  days.    "We  pass  up  a  rickety  flight  of  stairs, 

*  On  January  28th,  1866.  The  following  were  the  officers  and  teachers 
present:  Henry  A.  Backus,  J.  Cleveland  Cady,  Henry  A.  Crosby,  William 
O.  Curtis,  John  C.  Eastman,  Edward  C.  Miles,  Miss  Isabel  N.  Miles,  Miss 
Annie  L.  Prentiss  (afterward  Mrs.  Henry),  William  Allen  Smith,  Miss 
Mallville  M.  W.  Smith  (afterward  Mrs.  McClellan),  William  R.  Sheffield, 
and  Charles  Woolsey. 

t  His  predecessor  for  the  brief  period  named  was  Mr.  Charles  Woolsey. 

t  Through  practically  the  whole  of  this  time  he  has  been  ably  seconded 
by  his  friend  and  fellow-worker  in  the  Covenant  Church,  Dr.  Charles  Otis 
Kimball. 


412  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

and  along  a  dark,  narrow  hall  until  we  come  to  a 
large  low  room,  seated  with  settees.  This  is  the  home 
of  the  Covenant  Mission.  The  wide  boards  of  the 
bare  floor  spring  under  our  feet,  owing  to  a  too  eco- 
nomic construction,  but  they  are  scrupulously  neat, 
for  the  young  laborers,  however  limited  their  means, 
will  not  have  filth  for  an  environment.  The  plas- 
tered ceiling  is  badly  cracked  and  rough  with  many 
a  rude  patching.  A  piano,  a  little  lectern  for  the 
superintendent,  a  blackboard,  and  a  banner-case, 
constituted  the  furniture.  This  banner-case,  of 
stained  pine,  with  its  banners,  *  was  of  home  manu- 
facture, and  a  marvel  of  ingenuity  and  'boring,'  its 
chief  decoration  being  a  perforated  strip,  formed  by 
the  judicious  use  of  the  auger.  On  the  walls  are 
some  large,  brightly  colored  scriptural  scenes,  also  of 
home  manufacture,  f  These  alleged  water  colors 
have  been  produced  monthly — for  the  education  and 
edification  of  the  children.  Near  by  is  the  infant 
class-room,  about  fifteen  by  twenty-five  feet  (seated 
with  little  seats),  which  three  of  the  male  leaders 
have  made  a  marvellous  sensation,  by  painting  in  red, 
white,  and  blue.  They  spent  several  nights  in  accom- 
plishing the  result,  and  perhaps  never  completed  a 
more  patriotic  work." 

It  is  not  difiicult  to  see  with  how  much  ardor  and 
devotion  this  enterprise  was  carried  on,  nor  to  believe 
that  work  thus  heartily  done  brought  its  own  re- 
ward. With  a  thoroughness  that  only  love  could  in- 
spire, every  detail  was  faithfully  attended  to.    If  the 

*  Upon  the  banners  the  words  of  the  hymns  were  stencilled  by  Dr. 
Kimball,  thus  obviating  the  necessity  of  individual  hymn-books. 

t  Mr.  Cady  himself  painted  them  and  they  are  still  treasured  by  the 
school, 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   413 

task  was  the  preparing  and  teaching  of  the  lesson,  it 
was  undertaken  in  a  spirit  of  consecration  as  a  most 
vital  service.  If  it  was  the  guidance  of  the  music,  for 
which  the  school  has  ever  been  famous,  no  pains 
were  spared  in  the  selection  and  arrangement.  Or  if 
it  was  only  the  decoration  of  the  school-room,  re- 
ferred to  above,  the  paint-brush  was  wielded  with  en- 
thusiasm. 

The  outcome  was  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. "The  smile  and  favor  of  heaven,"  said  Dr. 
Prentiss,  "have  rested  upon  this  school  in  a  wonder- 
ful manner.  Nor  is  this  any  matter  of  surprise ;  for  it 
has  always  been  carried  on  reverently,  discreetly, 
advisedly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God.  No  false,  sensa- 
tional methods  have  been  followed;  no  trifling  with 
sacred  things  has  been  allowed.  The  children  have 
been  treated  as  responsible  human  beings,  gathered 
here,  not  to  be  amused,  but  for  the  good  of  their 
immortal  souls;  not  to  keep  them  out  of  mischief 
and  teach  them  to  repeat,  by  rote,  verses  of  Scripture, 
or  even  to  sing  stirring  hymns,  but  to  acquaint  them 
with  Jesus  Christ,  their  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  help 
to  fashion  them  into  honest,  dutiful,  serious-minded, 
pious  boys  and  girls.  Large  numbers  have  never 
been  one  of  its  chief  aims.  It  has  wrought  upon  the 
theory  that  a  school  of  fifty  children,  instructed 
and  trained  in  all  respects  in  the  right  way,  will 
bring  forth  more  and  better  fruit  than  a  school 
of  five  hundred  children,  conducted  upon  false, 
worldly  principles.  The  result  is  a  model  Christian 
school."  * 

Although,  as  we  are  thus  told,  mere  size  was  never 

*  "  Eleven  Years,"  pp.  23  /. 


414  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

one  of  the  school's  chief  aims,  the  growth  was  steady 
and  marked,  so  that  after  a  few  years  the  need  of 
larger  and  more  suitable  quarters  became  urgent. 
In  1870,  the  members  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant 
took  steps  to  purchase  land  and  erect  a  building. 
**It  seemed  a  great  venture,  considering  the  large 
amount  which  the  church  had  just  raised  for  its  fine 
plant  on  Park  Avenue,  but  the  pastor  urged  that  it 
would  be  a  shame  for  them  to  worship  in  such  com- 
fort and  leave  their  East  Side  brethren  poorly  accom- 
modated. .  .  .  This  was  the  first  building  of  its 
class  to  consider  the  matter  of  beauty  and  effective- 
ness. Up  to  this  time  it  had  been  thought  that 
accommodation  and  shelter  were  all  that  was  needed 
in  such  buildings.  But  this  was  not  the  spirit  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant.  It  desired  that  the  house 
of  worship  which  it  erected  for  its  East  Side  branch 
should  be  the  most  attractive  place  its  worshippers 
should  find  in  all  the  week."  *  In  spite  of  the  great 
difficulty  of  an  undertaking  so  large  in  itself  and  so 
generously  conceived,  the  Covenant  people,  led  by 
their  pastor,  accomplished  their  purpose,  and  in  De- 
cember, 1871,  the  "Memorial  Chapel,"  at  310  East 
Forty-second  Street,  designed  by  Mr.  Cady  and 
adapted  most  perfectly  to  the  needs  of  the  work,  was 
dedicated,  f     Its  name  referred  to  a  historic  event 

*  From  an  address  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Cady,  quoted  in  the  "Memorial  of  Dr. 
Prentiss,"  published  by  Union  Seminary,  pp.  13  /. 

•f  The  following  "  Dedication  Hymn  "  was  written  for  this  occasion  by 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Prentiss: 

Thankfully,  O  Lord,  we  come 
To  this  new  and  happy  home; 
Wilt  thou  not  from  heaven  descend, 
Here  to  dwell  as  friend  with  friend, 
Granting  us  the  wondrous  grace 
To  behold  thee  face  to  face? 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   415 

which  has  already  been  mentioned  in  this  volume, 
the  reunion  of  the  Old  and  New  School  Presby- 
terians in  1869.  *  The  new  chapel  of  the  Church  of 
the  Covenant  was  designed  to  be  a  "Memorial"  of 
that  reunion. 

While  the  mission  Sunday-school  was  thus  prosper- 
ing, the  mother  church  was  quietly  and  steadily  grow- 
ing in  numbers  and  influence.  In  1873,  Dr.  Prentiss, 
to  whom,  in  large  measure,  the  church  owed  its  rev- 
erent, liberal,  and  devoted  spirit,  resigned  his  charge 
to  accept  the  Chair  of  Pastoral  Theology,  Church 
Polity,  and  Missionary  Work,  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary. 

He  had  done  a  great  and  lasting  work  in  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant.  His  gentle  and  affection- 
ate nature,  his  cultured  and  scholarly  mind,  and, 
above  all,  the  wealth  of  his  personal  Christian  faith, 
had  been  used  by  him  to  implant  a  living  Christianity 
in  the  hearts  of  his  people.  "Religion,"  as  has  been 
said  of  him,  "was  the  great,  impelling,  controlling 

Teach  us  here  to  praise  and  pray, 
How  to  hve  from  day  to  day; 
Teach  us  who  and  what  thou  art, 
Write  thy  name  on  every  heart; 
Make  us  pure,  and  clean,  and  white, 
Blessed  Jesus,  in  thy  sight. 

May  the  weary  here  find  rest 
On  the  tender  Shepherd's  breast; 
May  the  erring  cease  to  stray. 
Learning  here  the  perfect  way 
And  the  mourner  find  that  here 
Jesus  wipes  away  the  tear. 

And  when  Ufe's  short  day  is  o'er. 
And  we  hither  come  no  more. 
Father,  Saviour,  loving  Friend, 
Guide  us  to  our  journey's  end; 
Thankful  that  we  often  came 
Here  to  learn  thy  blessed  name. 

*  See  above,  p.  316. 


416  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

force  of  his  life  and  work,"  *  and  under  his  leader- 
ship the  Church  of  the  Covenant  had,  in  a  marked 
degree,  acquired  a  spirit  like  his  own:  religion  was 
not  merely  its  sphere  of  activity,  but  the  vital  force 
by  which  it  was  moved  and  directed.  Combined  with 
his  unusual  spiritual  power.  Dr.  Prentiss  possessed 
also  the  vigor  and  determination  by  which  hard, 
practical  tasks  were  carried  steadily  to  their  comple- 
tion. His  pastorate  was  begun  by  the  building  of  the 
church  and  crowned  by  the  building  of  the  chapel. 
To  the  end  of  his  life,  continuing  to  live  and  la- 
bor in  New  York,  he  was  the  church's  faithful  and 
deeply  loved  friend,  and  in  his  later  days  he  was  re- 
garded by  his  former  parishioners  with  something  of 
the  affection  and  reverence  that  must  have  been  felt 
for  the  aged  St.  John  at  Ephesus. 

The  successor  of  Dr.  Prentiss  was  the  Rev.  Marvin 
R.  Vincent,  D.D.,  who  was  called  from  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Troy,  and  was  installed  in- 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant  on  May  8th,  1873.  The 
service  thus  begun  was  to  continue  for  fifteen  years. 

A  graphic  characterization  of  the  church  and  its 
people  during  this  period  is  provided  by  Dr.  Vincent 
himself. t  "Dr.  Prentiss,"  he  says,  "had  laid  solid 
foundations  with  his  Christian  culture  and  his  sym- 
pathetic personal  ministry.  The  church  was  dis- 
tinctly and  essentially  a  family  church  as  distin- 
guished from  what  is  known  as  a  popular  church. 
Neither  its  general  character,  its  ministrations,  nor 
its  situation  invited  the  crowd  which  goes  to  stare 

*  Funeral  Sermon  by  Dr.  Vincent,  p.  28. 

t  In  an  article  in  the  "Evangelist"  quoted  by  Dr.  McIIvaine  in  the 
Bcrmon  preached  February  11th,  1894,  pp.  21-24. 


MARVIN   K.   VINCENT 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   417 

and  to  be  entertained.  But  the  gospel  was  faithfully 
preached,  the  children  were  gathered  into  the  fold, 
and  the  church  was  represented  strongly  by  individ- 
uals in  numerous  benevolent  and  philanthropic  enter- 
prises.   Its  internal  harmony  was  perfect. 

"Such  a  congregation  as  it  was!  Representing  so 
many  different  sides  of  life !  Of  ministers  there  were 
Dr.  Prentiss  and  Henry  B.  Smith  and  Dr.  Eastman, 
Dr.  Briggs,  Dr.  Francis  Brown  and  Dr.  Wallace  At- 
terbury.  Of  doctors,  Buck's  noble  head  appeared 
under  the  fourth  gallery,  and  his  son,  Albert,  was 
a  little  farther  down  the  aisle;  Post  sat  just  in  front, 
the  light  through  the  colored  panes  falling  on  his 
full  white  beard,  his  Greek  Testament  in  his  hand. 
Then  there  were  Noyes  and  St.  John  Roosa  and 
McLane  and  Brayton  Ball,  Henry  Walker,  Yale, 
Stimson,  and  Streeter.  The  lawyers,  too,  were  a 
goodly  company:  Judge  Sutherland  was  just  behind 
Dr.  Post;  Charles  Butler  opposite,  John  P.  Crosby 
further  down;  William  Walter  Phelps  over  on  the 
left;  Daniel  Lord  not  far  from  the  door;  on  the  mid- 
dle aisle,  Charles  D.  Adams,  so  early  taken  away  in 
the  freshness  of  his  manhood,  with  all  his  sterling 
worth  and  graceful  culture.  Then  Theron  G.  Strong 
and  William  G.  Choate  and  William  C.  Whitney  and 
Hugh  J.  Jewett  and  W.  W.  Hoppin  and  S.  J.  Storrs 
and  Walter  Howe  and  Eugene  Smith.  And  the  art- 
ists, too,  Mrs.  Candace  Wheeler  and  her  daughter 
Dora,  and  Oliver  Lay  and  George  Yewell  and 
Cleveland  Cady. 

"There  were  the  two  Scribners,  John  Blair  and 
Charles.  There  was  Charlton  T.  Lewis  and  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Prentiss  and  Whitelaw  Reid  and  Charles 


418  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

L.  Norton  and  Edward  S.  Mead  and  Stephen 
Walker.  And  then  the  business  men,  the  men  of 
affairs.  WiUiam  E.  Dodge  and  Joseph  R.  Skid- 
more  sat  in  adjoining  pews.  Robert  Gordon,  with  his 
keen  Scotch  face;  all  the  artists  in  New  York  knew 
him.  Close  behind  him  William  H.  Osborn,  a  large 
man  every  way;  people  who  had  any  sham  about 
them  generally  gave  him  a  wide  berth.  Thomas 
Denny's  fine,  scholarly  face  looked  up  from  the  front 
pew  on  the  middle  aisle.  There  were  Harvey  Fisk 
and  Calvin  Goddard  and  Charles  H.  Rogers.  There 
were  William  H.  H.  Moore  and  Robert  H.  McCurdy 
and  David  McAlpin.  There  were  Enoch  Ketcham 
and  Joseph  Parsons  and  Marshall  Blake.  There 
were  Charles  Trumbull  White,  the  chemist,  and 
Mancer  M.  Backus,  the  furrier,  who  would  turn  from 
selling  a  sealskin  muff  or  cloak  and  discuss  Greek 
roots,  or  theology,  or  mathematics  with  you  at  your 
pleasure." 

To  complete  the  picture  we  must  place  in  the  pul- 
pit the  dignified  figure  of  Dr.  Vincent  himself,  in 
regard  to  whose  power  as  a  preacher  the  appreciative 
words  of  his  successor  may  be  quoted:  "No  better 
sermons  were  preached  or  published  in  this  city  than 
those  delivered  in  this  pulpit  during  Dr.  Vincent's 
ministry.  They  were  always  fresh,  thoughtful,  sug- 
gestive, marked  by  spiritual  insight  and  wide  schol- 
arship, clothed  in  a  vigorous  and  beautiful  style."  * 

Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  event  of  Dr.  Vincent's 
pastorate  was  the  appointment  of  the  first  chapel 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Howard  A.  Talbot,  f    There  had 

*  Sermon  preached  February  11th,  1894,  p.  20. 
t  See  Appendix  R,  p.  536. 


INTEKIOU  Ol'  THE  OLD  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   419 

before  been  several  missionaries  connected  with  the 
chapel  work,  but  in  1875,  with  Mr.  Talbot's  appoint- 
ment, the  church  which  we  now  know  as  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  began  to  take  definite  shape.  A  few 
months  later  the  custom  was  inaugurated  of  celebrat- 
ing the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  the  chapel, 
a  significant  step  in  this  instance,  as  we  have  already 
seen  it  to  be  in  the  parallel  development  of  the  mis- 
sion chapel  of  the  Brick  Church. 

The  direction  in  which  thing-s  were  movino-  has 
been  well  described  by  Dr.  Vincent.*  "Before  I 
ceased  to  be  the  pastor  of  the  mother  church,"  he 
says,  "the  chapel  congregation  had  begun  to  take 
steps  toward  its  own  maintenance;  and,  although 
unable  to  assume  the  entire  burden,  was  contributinfj- 
annually  a  respectable  sum.  ...  It  has  been  from 
the  beginning  the  policy  of  the  workers  in  this  field  to 
encourage  and  develop  the  ideal  and  the  fact  of  self- 
support.  In  the  early  days  ...  its  work  was  largely 
among  the  poor,  and  a  large  amount  of  poverty  and 
distress  appealed  to  it  for  relief.  But  while  such 
appeals  were  habitually  met  with  a  genuine  Christian 
compassion  and  tenderness,  they  were  also  met  with 
a  sound  common-sense  and  with  an  enlightened  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  true  helpfulness.  While  ju- 
diciously assisting  the  absolutely  helpless,  it  was  the 
constant  aim  to  open  the  way  in  each  case  to  self-help ; 
to  provide  opportunities  for  honest  labor;  to  train 
the  children  so  that,  in  future  days,  they  might  com- 
mand remunerative  employment,  and  thus  to  put 
the  poorest  into  a  self-respecting  attitude.     On  this 

*  In  the  "Thirty-fifth  Anniversary  Sermon,"  preached  January  27th 
1901,  pp.  15  /.  ^  > 


420  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

line  arose  the  cooking-school,  the  sewing-school,  and 
the  Helping  Hand,  and  along  this  line  were  directed 
the  ministrations  of  the  Bible  readers  and  of  the 
pastor,  so  far  as  they  had  to  do  with  the  material 
conditions  of  the  people." 

The  fuller  extension  of  this  ideal  of  self-support 
and  independence  to  the  organized  work  of  the 
chapel  itself  was,  however,  deferred  to  a  later  date.  As 
Dr.  Vincent  himself  has  elsewhere  said,  *  there  were 
in  the  time  of  his  pastorate  "many  and  the  best  of  rea- 
sons" why  it  w^as  inexpedient  to  transform  the  Me- 
morial Chapel  into  an  independent  church.  The 
accomplishment  of  that  most  important  undertaking 
belongs  to  the  history  of  the  next  pastorate. 

Dr.  Vincent  resigned  his  charge  in  November, 
1887,  to  become  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  in 
Union  Seminary;  and  in  December,  1888,  his  suc- 
cessor was  installed,  the  Rev.  James  Hall  Mcllvaine, 
D.D.,  who  had  been  called  from  the  Union  Church 
of  Providence,  R.  I. 

The  new  pastor  had  been  on  the  field  but  a  little 
over  a  year  when  it  became  necessary  to  secure  a  new 
leader  for  the  chapel  work.  Mr.  Talbot  (1875- 
1881),  had  been  succeeded  in  turn  by  the  Rev. 
Henry  T.  McEwen,  (1881-1887),  and  the  Rev. 
Edwin  E.  Rogers  (1887-1889).  When  a  successor 
for  Mr.  Rogers  was  being  sought,  it  was  decided  to 
make  his  position  different  from  that  of  the  chapel 
pastor  up  to  this  time.  "In  reviewing  the  field," 
says  Dr.  Mcllvaine, t  referring  to  the  time  of  his 

*  In  some  unpublished  reminiscences  written  for  a  memorial  service  at 
the  present  Church  of  the  Covenant  on  December  16th,  1894. 

t  In  an  address  (unpublished),  delivered  on  November  8th,  1891. 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   421 

arrival  in  New  York,  "it  seemed  to  me  that  the  pas- 
toral relation  [between  the  chapel  minister  and  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant]  was  very  unsatisfactory. 
The  pastor  was  not  installed,  .  .  .  only  hired  by 
a  body  of  men;  and  I  suggested  with  hesitancy  that 
we  should  change  it  all,  and  that  the  new  pastor 
should  be  associate  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the 
Covenant.  To  my  great  delight,  the  idea  was  seized 
with  enthusiasm."  It  was  on  this  basis  that  the 
Rev.  George  Sidney  Webster  accepted  a  call  to  take 
up  the  chapel  work,  and  was  installed  as  Dr.  Mcll- 
vaine's  associate  in  March,  1890.* 

The  aim  of  this  new  arrangement  was  to  assert 
emphatically  that  the  Covenant  Memorial  Chapel 
was  not  a  *' mission"  in  the  unworthy  sense  which 
that  name  had  acquired,  that  it  was  not  merely  an 
inferior,  dependent  institution,  maintained  by  char- 
ity, but,  on  the  contrary,  an  important  and  highly 
honored  part  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  itself. 
As  the  new  associate  pastor  said  a  year  or  so  after  he 
had  begun  his  work,  "This  new  relation  was  rather 
a  proper  recognition  of  [the  chapel]  than  a  change  in 
plan  or  policy  of  its  work.  For  years  a  church  has 
existed  here  in  all  but  the  name.  Now  side  by  side 
with  our  loving  mother  church,  no  longer  as  a  daugh- 
ter, but  as  a  sister  beloved,  we  keep  step  in  our  united 
ejBForts  to  advance  Christ's  kingdom  in  this  part  of 

*  He  was  born  at  Meredith,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  July  30th,  1853. 
In  1878  he  graduated  from  Hamilton  College,  being  valedictorian  of  his 
class.  For  a  year  he  was  professor  of  Greek  in  the  Seminary  at  Whitestone, 
N.  Y.,  after  which  he  entered  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City, 
graduating  in  1882.  His  first  ministerial  service  was  as  assistant  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  in  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  beginning  in  1882, 
and  ending  with  his  call  to  the  Church  of  the  Covenant. 


422  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

our  city.  Our  interests  and  our  sympathies  are 
interlinked.  We  rejoice  to-day  in  God's  great  mercy 
that  has  preserved  the  one  Church  of  the  Covenant 
with  its  two  Sunday-schools,  its  two  church  build- 
ings, its  two  congregations,  its  two  pastors." 

The  new  plan  worked  well,  but  not  so  much,  it  is 
evident,  because  of  the  excellence  of  the  plan,  as 
because  of  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  used.  The  plan 
indeed,  it  has  been  truly  said,  "was  possible  only  on 
the  basis  of  the  most  cordial  fraternal  feeling  between 
the  church  and  the  chapel.  *  But  that  feeling  existed 
in  a  marked  degree  and  was  recognized  and  rejoiced 
in  by  all  concerned.  It  is  pleasant  to  read  the  testi- 
mony of  the  associate  pastor,  written  some  years 
later.  "The  mutual  love  that  maintained  and  in- 
spired this  work,"  he  says,  "was  both  a  revelation 
and  an  inspiration  to  me,"  to  which  he  makes  the 
special  addition:  "The  two  pastors  consulted  and 
planned  and  toiled  like  brothers,  and  the  fraternal 
grip  upon  each  other's  hearts  has  never  been  lost  by 
either   of  us."  f     Dr.  Mcllvaine   spoke   with   equal 

*  "A  Decade  of  Work  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,"  a  historical 
sermon  by  the  pastor,  March,  1900,  p.  5. 

t  "A  Decade  of  Work,"  pp.  5  /.  One  concrete  instance  of  the  good 
effect  upon  Mr.  Webster's  congregation  is  noted  by  him  in  another  part  of 
this  same  sermon,  preached,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  1900.  "  Recall  this 
room,"  he  says,  "as  it  looked  ten  years  ago.  There  are  no  familiar  fur- 
nishings except  the  clock  and  the  organ  and  one  tablet  on  yonder  wall. 
You  then  had  no  communion  table  and  no  carpet  on  the  floors,  except  on 
the  pulpit  platform  and  for  a  httle  space  in  front  of  it.  The  pews  could 
not  be  praised  for  comfort  or  beauty.  Cushions  were  unknown.  The 
change  in  ecclesiastical  form  from  a  mission  chapel  to  a  church  suggested 
the  need  of  a  change  in  the  churchliness  of  this  interior.  This  meant 
earnest,  self-denying  work.  We  were  most  lovingly  assisted,  but  this  con- 
gregation raised  more  than  half  the  $4,000  that  was  expended  here  in  fur- 
nishings and  repairs  within  the  first  half  of  this  decade." 
A  more  general  statement  of  the  success  of  this  "church  in  a  chapel,"  aa 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   423 

emphasis  and  enthusiasm  of  the  success  of  the  new 
pastoral  relation.  *'The  result  has  justified  the 
means,"  he  said,  speaking  at  the  chapel  in  Novem- 
ber, 1891,  and  added,  "I  want  to  say  that  over  at  the 
church  we  are  as  proud  of  Mr.  Webster  as  you  are." 
Two  years  later,  after  a  still  further  test,  he  again 
affirmed  that  the  relation  had  been  "a  most  helpful 
and  happy  one  to  both  congregations."  * 

When  these  words  were  spoken  a  still  further  step 
in  the  chapel's  development  had  been  taken,  the  step, 
indeed,  by  which  it  ceased  altogether  to  be  a  chapel 
and  became  a  church.  The  story  of  that  event, 
however,  cannot  be  related  in  the  present  chapter, 
and  meantime  we  must  become  familiar  with  the 
important  developments  in  the  life  of  the  mother 
church  by  which  the  chapel's  independence  was 
largely  brought  about. 

It  may  have  seemed  strange  that  in  narrating  the 
story  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  so  large  a  propor- 


Mr.  W  ebster  called  it,  may  be  quoted  from  an  article  by  him  in  the  "  Evan- 
gelist" for  April  6th,  1893.  "This  church,"  he  said,  "has  one  elder  and 
two  deacons  in  its  congregation,  two  pastor's  assistants,  a  flourishing  Sun- 
day-school, superintended  by  an  elder  of  the  church,  a  well  sustained 
church  prayer-meeting,  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  Ladies'  Association, 
men's  meeting,  Choral  Society,  Women's  Helping  Hand  Society,  Chil- 
dren's Mission  Band,  Girls'  Sewing-school,  Coal  Club,  and  Burial  Society. 
Four  of  these  organizations  have  been  started  within  the  past  three  years. 
Through  these  activities  more  missionary  work  is  accomplished  than  was 
possible  under  the  former  conditions.  In  three  years  more  than  five  hun- 
dred families  have  felt  in  some  way  the  sympathetic  throb  of  church  life  in 
this  chapel,  and  about  ten  thousand  calls  have  been  made  by  its  pastoral 
force.  .  .  .  Without  any  revival  season  there  have  been  accessions  to  the 
church  at  every  communion.  There  have  been  received  at  the  chapel  on 
confession  of  their  faith  99,  and  by  letter  4-i;  the  loss  has  been,  43  dis- 
missed and  20  died,  leaving  a  net  gain  in  three  years  of  80  members." 

*"The  Church  of  the  Covenant:    a  Historical  Sermon,"  February 
11th,  1894,  p.  33, 


424  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

tion  of  space  has  been  given  to  the  affairs  of  the 
chapel,  but  in  doing  so  we  have  but  fallen  in  with  the 
strong  feeling  of  the  Covenant  people,  the  feeling  that 
of  the  church  the  chapel  was  by  far  the  largest  and 
most  important  single  element.  It  was,  however,  by 
no  means  the  whole.  The  life  of  the  church  had  been 
singularly  rich,  and  fruitful  in  spiritual  and  practical 
results. 

Only  the  briefest  sketch  of  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  work  is  here  possible.  The  prayer- 
meetings,  as  many  who  still  live  heartily  testify,  were 
a  source  of  the  greatest  strength  and  inspiration,  and 
we  may  quote  without  qualification  a  notice  of  them 
printed  in  the  Covenant  Year  Book  for  1891.  "The 
attendance  at  these  services  testifies  to  the  benefit 
derived  from  them.  The  spirit  and  tone  of  them  are 
such  as  to  leave  but  little  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of 
improvement.  The  brief,  thoughtful  remarks,  the 
earnest,  simple  prayers,  impress  all  who  attend 
them."  * 

Of  the  other  most  salient  features  in  the  church's 
activity  a  brief  account  is  given  us  in  a  sermon 
preached  by  Dr.  Mcllvaine  in  February,  1894.  He 
is  looking  back  over  the  whole  history,  but  refers 
more  particularly  to  the  events  and  labors  of  his 
own  pastorate  and  of  that  of  Dr.  Vincent.  "In  addi- 
tion to  the  pew-rents,  which  have  necessarily  been 
high,"  he  says  to  his  congregation,  "you  have  had 
$5,000  a  year  to  raise  for  the  expenses  of  the  church 
and  $4,000  a  year  for  the  chapel.  The  burden  has 
rested  upon  a  few,  and  the  few  have  been  continually 

*  A  choir  of  young  people,  which  led  the  singing,  added  much  to  the 
interest  and  helpfulness  of  these  services. 


JAMES  H.  MiILVAINE 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   425 

becoming  fewer,  but  it  has  been  borne  without  a 
murmur.  During  the  thirty-two  years  of  your  exist- 
ence, you  have  contributed  as  a  church  to  rehgious 
purposes  nearly,  if  not  quite,  $1,000,000.  Fully  one- 
half  of  this  has  gone  into  missionary  work ;  the  other 
half  to  the  building  and  support  of  the  church.  And 
this  represents  but  a  part,  perhaps  the  smaller  part, 
of  your  gifts.  Large  contributions  have  been  made 
directly  to  the  boards  of  the  Church  by  individuals; 
many  students  have  been  educated  for  the  ministry 
at  private  expense;  two  professorships  in  Union 
Seminary  have  been  endowed;  Olivet  Chapel  built, 
a  day  nursery  purchased  and  equipped,  and  many 
other  large  gifts  have  been  given  by  the  members  of 
this  church.  * 

"The  most  efficient  agent  in  the  church's  work 
has  been  the  Ladies'  Church  Work  Association. 
This  society  was  organized  November  6th,  1873,  by 
the  consolidation  of  the  other  missionary  and  benev- 
olent societies  in  the  church.  It  has  worked  for  the 
various  boards  of  the  Church  and  for  Covenant 
Chapel    through    one    organization.      It    has    main- 

*  One  other  item  should  be  added  to  this  list.  It  is  referred  to  in  the 
same  sermon  from  which  the  quotation  in  the  text  is  made,  as  follows  (pp. 
25  /):  "The  Covenant  Church  had,  from  the  first,  taken  an  interest  in  the 
Bohemian  mission,  and  no  cause  appealed  more  successfully  to  its  sym- 
pathies. It  was  after  an  appeal  from  the  pulpit  that  the  invalid  wife  of  a 
physician  said  to  me,  'Why  cannot  those  people  have  a  church?  Why 
cannot  the  ladies  build  it?  Let  us  call  a  meeting  at  my  parlor.'  The 
meeting  was  called.  Another  meeting  followed  soon  after.  The  plan  was 
organized  and  carried  out,  and  though  the  funds  were  not  all  contributed 
by  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  its  women  gave  most  generously,  and  one 
of  its  trustees  personally  superintended  the  work  until  the  day  when  the 
new  home  was  dedicated,  without  a  cent  of  debt,  amid  the  tears  of  a 
grateful  people.  The  Bohemian  Church  owes  its  church  edifice  principally 
to  the  Church  of  the  Covenant." 


426  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

tained  for  twenty  years  a  missionary  in  Syria,  a  home 
missionary  in  the  West  and  South,  a  Bible-reader, 
a  sewing-school,  and  an  employment  society  at  the 
chapel.  It  has  sent  fifty  boxes  of  clothing  and  useful 
articles  to  the  missionaries  in  the  West;  it  has  cut 
out  and  prepared  nearly  1,000  garments  yearly  to 
be  made  by  poor  women,  and  it  has  raised  and  ex- 
pended upward  of  $80,000  in  its  work.  Another 
eflScient  society  has  been  the  Young  People's  Mis- 
sion Band.  During  the  fifteen  years  of  its  existence 
about  $4,500  has  been  expended  by  it  in  good  work 
in  this  city  and  in  foreign  lands.  The  Men's  So- 
cial Organization  was  formed  in  1887,  and  has  met 
every  two  months  for  literary  and  social  purposes. 
It  has  been  a  great  help  to  the  church  in  bring- 
ing its  members  closer  together. 

"The  church  Sunday-school  was  organized  a  year 
before  the  church,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Home  of  the 
Friendless,  January  20th,  1861.  Mr.  E.  P.  Griffin  was 
its  first  superintendent.  He  was  followed  by  B.  F. 
Butler,  L.  N.  Lovell,  W.  H.  H.  Moore,  Wm.  Seward, 
and  Alfred  E.  Marling.  It  has  never  been  a  large 
school,  but  it  has  been  a  field  of  most  faithful  and 
fruitful  activity  in  training  up  the  children  of  the 
church  for  their  Christian  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities. Nearly  all  of  its  members  have  come  in  due 
time  to  the  Lord's  table.  Thirty-five  have  so  come 
from  the  Sunday-school  during  my  pastorate."  * 

It  will  have  been  evident  from  certain  allusions  in 
the  foregoing  review,  that,  in  spite  of  many  elements 
of  very  genuine  success,  the  church  was  working 
against  unequal  odds.     In  the  spirit  of  worship  and 

*  "The  Church  of  the  Covenant:  A  Historical  Sermon,"  pp.  29-32. 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   427 

service,  and  in  the  devotion  of  its  members,  many  of 
whom  had  belonged  to  the  church  throughout  its 
entire  history,  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  was  strong. 
But  its  membership  was  not  being  proportionately 
renewed,  as  the  older  members  dropped  out.  With 
the  reunion  of  the  Old  and  New  School  Presbyterians 
in  1869,  the  original  reason  for  the  existence  of  a 
second  Presbyterian  Church  on  Murray  Hill  had 
been  removed,  and  with  this  change  of  condition  cer- 
tain dijSiculties,  which  had  already  existed,  gradually 
became  acute. 

Dr.  Prentiss,  as  early  as  the  date  of  his  own  resig- 
nation in  1873,  had  observed  with  great  concern  the 
direction  in  which  affairs  were  tending.  In  a  sermon 
delivered  at  that  time  he  said  that,  in  reviewing  the 
history  of  the  church,  nothing  had  struck  him  more 
forcibly  "than  the  incessant  change  that  is  going  on 
in  a  New  York  congregation. 

"I  do  not  refer  now,"  he  continued,  "to  the 
changes  wrought  by  death,  for  these  are  peculiar  to 
no  time  or  place,  but  to  those  which  grow  out  of  the 
present  conditions  of  society,  of  business,  and  of  re- 
ligious life  in  this  city.  My  impression  is,  that  the 
changes  are  more  than  twice  as  great  and  rapid  as 
they  were  when,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
I  came  to  New  York.  They  are,  probably,  three  or 
four  times  as  great  and  rapid  as  they  were  fifty  years 
ago.  Half  the  people  you  meet  with  seem  like  birds 
sitting  upon  a  twig,  looking  in  every  direction,  and 
ready  to  fly  away  on  the  slightest  impulse.  In  most 
of  our  churches,  it  is  a  constant  coming  and  going; 
some  of  them,  in  this  respect,  resemble  large  hotels  or 
boarding-houses;   a  few  of  those  who  frequent  them 


428  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

are  permanent ;  the  many  never  continue  In  one  stay. 
In  ten  years  a  congregation  almost  loses  its  personal 
identity. 

*' Since  the  war,  and  especially  within  the  past  four 
or  five  years,  this  feature  has  become  more  and  more 
marked,  the  corrupt  state  of  our  municipal  affairs 
having  very  much  accelerated  emigration  to  the 
country.  Our  religious  interests  have  suffered  ex- 
ceedingly from  the  latter  cause.  A  large  proportion 
of  the  young  men  and  women,  who  marry  and  go  to 
housekeeping,  leave  us;  for,  unless  they  are  rich,  it 
is  extremely  difficult  for  them  to  remain  here.  Then 
the  tide  of  business  is  rushing  in  upon  the  old  centres 
of  population  and  church-life,  and  driving  out  all  be- 
fore it.  Never  in  this  country,  rarely  in  any  country, 
has  there  been  such  an  anomalous  and  revolutionary 
state  of  things.  In  a  single  generation — ^yea,  in  less 
than  a  generation — expensive  and  beautiful  sanctu- 
aries are  erected  and  filled,  then  forsaken  and  torn 
down,  or  else  sold,  to  be  converted  into  theatres, 
stables,  and  places  of  trade.  In  this  whirlpool  of 
change,  the  strongest  religious  society  is  sometimes 
wrecked.  .  .  . 

"The  Church  of  the  Covenant,  I  suppose,  would 
be  regarded  as  composed  of  more  than  ordinarily 
stable  elements;  and  yet  last  year  we  lost — mostly 
by  removal  to  the  country — nearly  a  tenth  of  our 
whole  congregation  and  about  a  sixth  of  our  whole 
Sunday-school."  * 

If  this  was  the  situation  in  1873,  we  can  feel  no 
surprise  that  after  twenty  more  years,  during  which 
the  conditions  had  grown  worse  rather  than  better, 

*  "Eleven  Years  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,"  pp.  26-28. 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   429 

the  adoption  of  some  revolutionary  change  could  be 
no  longer  deferred.  "For  a  number  of  years,"  said 
Dr.  Mcllvaine,  "the  future  of  this  church  has  been 
a  subject  of  increasing  anxiety  to  many  of  you.  The 
situation,  beautiful  as  it  is,  has  never  been  favorable 
to  the  development  of  a  strong  and  popular  church. 
It  is  out  of  the  way,  and  there  are  forty  Protestant 
churches  within  a  radius  of  half  a  mile.  The  people 
in  this  immediate  neighborhood  are  identified  with 
other  churches  or  indifferent  to  all  churches.  To  the 
east  of  us  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  population 
is  Protestant,  and  this  is  needed  by  the  chapels  and 
churches  there.  We  have  had  this  whole  region 
carefully  canvassed  and  we  know  it  well."  * 

The  way  of  escape  which,  to  persons  confronted  by 
these  conditions,  would  first  suggest  itself — one  that 
has  been  used  by  many  other  New  York  churches 
similarly  placed — was  to  move  the  whole  organiza- 
tion to  a  more  favorable  locality.  But  another  and 
wiser  expedient — and  an  expedient,  it  must  be  added, 
which  called  for  far  greater  self-sacrifice  in  achieving 
its  more  useful  end — presented  itself  at  just  this 
juncture. 

It  has  already  been  seen  that  the  Covenant's  near 
neighbor,  the  Brick  Church,  was  at  this  very  time 
beginning  to  think  seriously  of  the  imperative  need 
of  an  endowment  for  the  future  continuance  of  her 
work.  The  time  would  almost  certainly  come,  though 
perhaps  not  for  many  years,  when  the  Brick  Church 
would  be  in  exactly  the  same  position  as  that  in  which 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant  now  found  itself.  Why 
not  meet  the  problems  of  both  churches,  the  immediate 

*  "The  Church  of  the  Covenant:  A  Historical  Sermon,"  p.  34. 


430  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

need  of  the  one,  the  approaching  need  of  the  other, 
by  uniting  forces,  the  Brick  Church  thus  sharing  her 
present  prosperity  and  opportunity,  and  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  providing,  by  the  sale  of  her  valua- 
ble property,  the  needed  endowment  for  the  united 
work  ? 

In  the  next  chapter  will  be  described  the  steps  by 
which  this  result  was  accomplished.  Meantime  it 
must  be  repeated  that  the  act  was,  on  the  part  of  the 
people  and  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant, 
singularly  high-minded  and  self -forgetful.  One  can- 
not read  without  deep  feeling  the  words  of  the  last 
sermon  preached  in  the  church  on  February  11th 
1894:  but  the  feeling  is  not  only  one  of  sympathy,  it 
is  even  more  a  feeling  of  great  admiration  for  the 
high  motives  by  which  these  men  were  actuated. 

"For  nearly  a  year,"  said  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  "you 
have  had  before  you  the  question  of  union  with  the 
Brick  Church.  You  have  carefully  considered  every 
other  alternative,  and  with  wonderful  unanimity, 
without  a  dissenting  voice,  you  have  decided  in 
favor  of  this  union.  There  is  no  compulsion  upon 
you.  For  a  long  time  you  could  continue  as  you  are, 
drawing,  if  necessary,  upon  your  large  and  valuable 
property.  If  you  consulted  only  your  own  inclinations 
you  would  doubtless  much  prefer  to  do  so.  This 
church  is  exceedingly  dear  to  you.  You  have  prayed 
and  hoped  and  struggled  and  sacrificed  for  its  wel- 
fare. It  is  connected  with  many  of  the  tenderest  and 
most  sacred  associations  of  your  life.  You  love  its 
very  stones  and  walls,  its  familiar  and  homelike  ways. 
But  you  have  regarded  the  question  from  a  higher 
standpoint  than  that  of  personal  preference.     You 


CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT   431 

have  felt  that  this  property  was  the  Lord's  property, 
not  yours — that  it  was  a  sacred  trust  committed  into 
your  hands.  You  have  asked  sincerely,  conscien- 
tiously, how  this  trust  could  be  best  administered  in 
the  interests  of  Christ's  cause.  It  has  seemed  to  you 
that,  in  the  reinforcement  and  permanent  endow- 
ment of  the  Brick  Church  this  end  would  be  best 
accomplished,  that  amid  all  the  manifold  changes  of 
the  future,  one  strong  Presbyterian  church  might  be 
secure  for  the  years  to  come  in  the  centre  of  this  city. 
"It  is  the  highest  law  of  life  that  you  are  thus  sub- 
serving. Self-interest,  self-preservation,  self-asser- 
tion, this  is  a  natural  instinct,  one  of  the  strong  per- 
manent forces  which  lie  at  the  base  of  life.  But  it  is 
not  the  highest.  Nothing  moves  into  fulness  of 
power,  nothing  attains  the  highest  end  of  its  being, 
but  by  the  law  of  self-surrender.  Of  this  law  Christ 
himself  is  the  perfect  illustration  and  fulfilment. 
'  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die, 
it  abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit.'"* 

*  "The  Church  of  the  Covenant:  A  Historical  Sermon,"  pp.  34-36. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

UNION     AND     AFFILIATION:    1893-1900 

"And  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh:  so  then  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one 
flesh."— ilfarfc  10  :  8. 

"The  union  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  with  the  Brick  Church  has  proved  to 
be  eminently  wise  and  for  the  best  interests  of  both,  and  the  results,  we  believe, 
will  be  for  the  lasting  good  of  the  united  people,  and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  Christ  in  this  city." — Minute  of  Session,  January  3d,  1896. 

EARLY  in  1893,  the  proposal  to  unite  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  and  the  Brick  Church 
in  the  manner  described  in  the  last  chapter, 
was  broached,  and  began  to  be  considered  by  the 
officers  of  both  churches.  The  proposed  action,  it 
will  readily  be  believed,  involved  a  number  of  diffi- 
cult problems.  To  accommodate  to  one  another  the 
interests  of  two  fully  developed  organizations,  and  to 
bring  together  two  distinct  groups  of  people  in  a 
union  which  should  be  hearty  and  happy,  required 
very  careful  consideration.  There  were,  moreover, 
certain  technical  difficulties  which  must  be  over- 
come before  the  plan  would  be  even  possible. 

On  May  16th,  1893,  came  a  formal  communication 
from  the  session  and  trustees  of  the  Church  of  the 
Covenant,  definitely  proposing  a  union  and  asking 
that  a  committee  of  the  officers  of  the  Brick 
Church  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Covenant 
representatives  and  to  join  with  them  in  reporting  a 
plan  for  adoption  by  their  respective  congregations. 

432 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  43S 

This  was  done,  and  nearly  six  months  were  occupied 
in  this  preliminary  work. 

In  the  fall,  tentative  plans  were  submitted  and  in 
general  approved.  The  questions  regarding  the 
representation  of  the  Covenant  congregation  in  the 
official  boards  of  the  united  church,  the  disposition 
of  the  Covenant  property,  and  the  establishment  of 
a  double  pastorate,  were  adjusted  with  satisfaction 
to  both  sides.  Two  other  elements  in  the  problem 
demanded  not  only  agreement,  but  certain  prepara- 
tory actions,  themselves  not  free  from  perplexity. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  question  regarding  the 
future  status  of  the  Covenant  Chapel.  The  chapel 
of  the  Brick  Church,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  ecclesiastical  independence; 
and  it  was  natural  to  propose  that  the  Covenant 
Chapel  should  now  be  put  on  the  same  footing.  On 
the  West  Side  the  experiment  had  been  in  the  main 
successful,  though  certain  disadvantages  and  positive 
perils  had  made  their  appearance  in  the  years  that 
had  passed  since  the  organization  of  the  church. 
With  certain  precautions,  therefore,  designed  to  meet 
the  difficulties  which  experience  had  pointed  out,  it 
was  determined  to  proceed  along  these  same  lines  in 
regard  to  the  chapel  on  the  East  Side. 

In  October,  when  the  question  was  definitely  put 
to  Mr.  W^ebster,  the  chapel  pastor,  whether,  in  his 
judgment,  it  was  possible  to  reorganize  his  congre- 
gation as  a  separate  and  independent  church,  he 
replied,  "Yes,  if  we  can  have  officers  that  will  com- 
mand the  respect  and  support  of  the  congregation 
they  serve."  *     Four  members  of  the  Church  of  the 

*  "A  Decade  of  Work,"  p.  7. 


434  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

Covenant  were  found  who  were  ready  to  transfer 
their  membership  and  allegiance  to  the  new  church, 
and  to  assume  a  portion  of  its  responsibilities.  *  At 
the  same  time  it  was  made  sure  that  the  cordial  sup- 
port formerly  given  by  the  members  of  the  old  Church 
of  the  Covenant,  both  in  money  and  in  personal 
service,  would  be  continued.  These  fundamental 
points  having  been  satisfactorily  settled,  the  new 
church  was  organized  on  November  30th,  1893,  and 
was  called  "The  Church  of  the  Covenant,"  in  order 
that  that  dear  and  familiar  name,  now  to  be  laid  aside 
by  the  parent  organization,  might  be  continued  in  the 
child.  Mr.  Webster  was  installed  as  pastor  on 
January  2d,  1894. 

The  second  perplexing  element  in  the  union 
problem  concerned  the  future  standing  of  the  Brick 
Church.  It  was  agreed  by  both  sides  that  the  name 
and  historic  continuity  of  that  church  ought  to  be 
preserved  inviolate,  but  it  was  found  that  under  the 
existing  law,  this  could  not  be  assured  in  such  a  union 
as  was  desired.  The  necessity,  therefore,  of  taking 
preliminary  steps  to  remove  this  difficulty  was  clearly 
perceived,  and  allowance  made  for  it,  when,  on  Jan- 
uary 2d,  1894,  the  officers  of  the  two  churches  en- 
tered into  the  following  agreement: 

"Whereas,  at  meetings  of  the  congregations  of  the 
said  t  two  churches  held  on  December  19th,  1893, 
resolutions  were  passed,  looking  to  a  union  of  the  two 
churches  in  such  way  as  will  preserve  the  name, 
ecclesiastical  organization,  and  historic  continuity  of 

*  One  of  them  became  the  treasurer,  while  two  accepted  the  oflBce  of 
elder  and  the  fourth  the  office  of  deacon. 

t  The  preamble,  to  which  reference  is  here  made,  has  been  omitted. 


(iE()K(;E  S.   WKHSTKH 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  435 

the  Brick  Church,  such  resolutions  providing  that 
the  boards  of  trustees  of  the  churches  be  directed  and 
authorized  to  take  such  legal  steps  as  might  be  nec- 
essary for  the  consolidation  of  the  properties  of  the 
two  churches; 

"Now,  therefore,  in  consideration  of  the  premises 
and  of  the  mutual  covenants  herein  expressed,  the 
parties  hereto,  by  their  respective  boards  of  trustees, 
have  mutually  covenanted  and  agreed,  and  they 
hereby  do  mutually  covenant  and  agree,  each  with 
the  other,  as  follows: 

"First.  As  soon  as  the  same  can  be  legally  accom- 
plished, such  proposed  union  shall,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  take  place 
upon  the  following  basis: 

"1.  The  Brick  Church  shall  preserve  its  name  and 
ecclesiastical  organization  and  historic  continuity, 
and  as  such  it  shall  receive  into  good  and  regular 
standing  the  members  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant. 

"2.  The  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant 
shall  become  coordinate  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church, 
with  the  same  salary  as  that  received  by  the  present 
pastor  of  that  church,  and  the  two  pastors  shall  con- 
tinue to  be  coordinate  pastors  until  the  Brick 
Church,  after  the  addition  of  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  and  as  thus  constituted, 
shall  determine  differently. 

"3.  Six  elders  from  the  session  of  the  Church  of 
the  Covenant,  to  wit:  Henry  D.  Noyes,  M.D.,  W.  H. 
H.  Moore,  William  Warner  Hoppin,  J.  C.  Cady, 
Theron  G.  Strong,  and  Alfred  E.  Marling,  shall  be 
added  to  the  session  of  the  Brick  Church.  Six  dea- 
cons from  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  to  wit,  Wil- 


436  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

Ham  O.  Curtis,  William  Seward,  Charles  O.  Kim- 
ball, Charles  W.  McAlpin,  Gerard  Beekman  Hoppin, 
and  Henry  N.  Corwith,  shall  be  added  to  the  board  of 
deacons  of  the  Brick  Church.  Three  trustees  from 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  to  wit,  Joseph  H.  Par- 
sons, Arthur  M.  Dodge,  and  Eugene  Smith,  shall 
become  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Brick  Church  in  place  of  three  of  the  present  nine 
members  of  the  board. 

*'4.  All  the  property  of  the  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant *  shall  be  transferred  to  the  Brick  Church,  sub- 
ject to  the  encumbrances  existing  thereon,  except 
that  the  memorial  gifts,  tablets,  and  windows  in  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  may  be  surrendered  to  the 
several  donors  thereof  or  their  legal  representatives,  f 
Upon  such  transfer  being  made,  the  then  unpaid  lia- 
bilities of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  for  expenses 
of  its  maintenance  during  the  current  fiscal  year 
ending  May  1st,  1894,  shall  be  assumed  by  the 
Brick  Church. 

*'5.  Pews  in  the  Brick  Church  to  the  number  of 
not  less  than  twenty-five  shall  be  provided  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  congregation  of  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant,  for  which  pew-rents  shall  be  charged 
and  paid  for  at  the  same  rate  as  that  applicable  to 
the  other  pews  in  the  church. 

*  This,  of  course,  included  the  chapel. 

t  Two  of  these  memorials  were  subsequently  placed  in  the  new  Church 
of  the  Covenant.  These  were  the  marble  bas-relief  representing  "Faith," 
originally  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  William  Curtis  Noyes,  and  after  his 
death  in  1864,  given  by  his  family  to  the  church  of  which  he  had  been  one 
of  the  founders;  and  the  baptismal  font  given  by  Benjamin  F.  Butler  and 
Robert  Gordon  in  1876.  When  the  old  Church  of  the  Covenant  was  torn 
down,  its  corner-stone  was  transferred  to  its  namesake,  where  it  is  set  into 
the  wall  of  the  vestibule. 


UNION   AND   AFFILIATION  437 

"6.  The  work  heretofore  carried  on  at  the  Cove- 
nant Chapel  in  East  Forty-second  Street  is  to  receive 
from  the  Brick  Church  that  cordial  sympathy  and 
financial  support  which  it  has  heretofore  had  from 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant. 

"Second.  The  two  churches  covenant  and  agree, 
each  with  the  other,  that  both  will  cooperate  in  an 
effort  to  obtain  from  the  legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York  the  transfer  of  the  property  of  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  to  the  Brick  Church,  the  merger  of 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant  in  the  Brick  Church  or 
the  union  of  the  two  churches,  on  the  basis  hereinbe- 
fore stated. 

"They  also  covenant  and  agree  that  they  will 
unite  in  an  application  to  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York  for  its  approval,  and  that  in  all  other  ways  they 
will  cooperate  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose 
hereinbefore  expressed."  * 

The  desired  action  of  the  legislature  was  obtained 
by  an  act  f  passed  on  March  2d;  on  the  12th  of  the 
same  month  the  consent  of  the  Presbytery  was  given ; 
and  on  April  12th,  by  the  final  transfer  of  the  prop- 
erty, the  union,  which  had  been  first  formally  pro- 
posed nearly  a  year  before,  became  an  established 
fact.  The  lot  on  Park  Avenue,  with  the  church  and 
parsonage  standing  upon  it,  had  been  sold  for 
$315,000  which,  after  a  small  deduction  for  the  pay- 


*  A  third  section  not  here  given  related  to  temporary  arrangements 
pending  the  consummation  of  the  plan  of  union. 

t  Providing  that  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  with  the  approval  of 
Presbytery,  might  "transfer  its  property,  real  and  personal,  by  way  of 
gift,  grant,  conveyance,  or  otherwise  "  to  the  Brick  Church,  and  that  the 
continued  existence  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Brick  Church  should  "not 
be  impaired  or  affected  by  such  transfer." 


438  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

ment  of  outstanding  debts,  became  an  endowment 
fund  for  the  work  of  the  Brick  Church.  * 

The  consolidation  thus  effected  proved  an  un- 
questionable success.  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  for  whom, 
perhaps,  it  had  from  the  beginning  involved  the 
greatest  sacrifice,  expressed  emphatically  his  satis- 
faction two  years  after  the  event.  '*The  union  of 
the  former  Church  of  the  Covenant  with  the  Brick 
Church,"  he  said,  "is  now  confirmed  and  estab- 
lished, and  the  united  congregation  is  working 
smoothly,  happily,  and  eflSciently  together." 

To  the  Brick  Church,  on  the  one  hand,  the  coming 
of  the  Covenant  people  had  been  a  great  gain,  in 
spiritual  and  personal  power  even  more  than  in  fi- 
nancial resources.  It  was  like  new  blood  in  the 
body,  and  both  in  the  deliberations  of  the  official 
boards  and  in  the  church's  practical  work,  the  effect 
was  felt  at  once.  The  people  of  the  Covenant,  for 
their  part,  were  happy  in  the  change.  They  had 
made  their  sacrifice  and  left  it  behind  them ;  and  they 

*  In  May,  1897,  a  tablet  commemorating  the  union  of  the  two  churches 
was  placed  in  the  Brick  Church  vestibule.  It  is  of  yellow  Sienna  marble, 
and  was  executed  from  a  design  by  Mr.  J.  Cleveland  Cady.  In  the  border 
appear  the  mottoes  of  the  old  and  the  new  Church  of  the  Covenant,  quoted 
as  a  heading  for  the  preceding  chapter  of  this  history  (p.  405).  The  central 
inscription  is  as  follows: 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT 
FOUNDED  MARCH  21,  1862 

PASTORS: 

GEORGE  L.  PRENTISS,  D.D.,  1862-1873 

MARVIN  R.  VINCENT,  D.D.,  1873-1887 

JAMES  HALL  McILVAINE,  D.D.,  1888-1894 

UNITED  WITH 

THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

APRIL,  1894 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  439 

were  heartily  prepared  to  rejoice  in  the  prosperous 
and  inspiring  Hfe  of  the  united  church.  * 

There  was,  it  may  be  said,  but  one  serious 
imperfection  in  the  plan  of  union  as  it  had  been 
carried  out,  and  this  was  one  which  had  been  un- 
avoidable under  the  conditions  by  which  the  union 
had  been  governed.  It  was  the  duplication  of  the 
office  of  pastor. 

The  existence  in  a  church  of  two  coequal  and  co- 
ordinate ministers,  both  of  them  occupying  the  same 
position  of  leadership  and  holding  identical  respon- 
sibilities, must  always  be  an  arrangement  fraught 
with  peculiar  difficulty.  Something  of  this  sort  had 
been  tried  by  the  New  York  Presbyterians  in  the 
eighteenth  century  and  had  been  at  length  abandoned 
as  decidedly  unsatisfactory.  No  one,  it  may  be  as- 
sumed, would  have  proposed  to  repeat  the  experi- 
ment for  its  own  sake.  At  the  time  of  the  union  it 
was  adopted  merely  because  it  was  then  necessary  to 
the  important  end  in  view;  and,  after  the  union  had 
been  accomplished,  the  disadvantages  which  had 
been  foreseen  were,  of  course,  only  the  more  apparent. 
A  dual  pastorate  was  clearly  not  economical,  it  was 
cumbersome,  and  after  the  success  of  the  union  had 
been  assured,  it  was  unnecessary. 

No  one  was  more  conscious  of  this  fact  than  were 
the  two  pastors,  and  in  January,  1896,  they  ad- 
dressed the  following  joint  letter  to  their  people : 

♦Dr.  Richards,  the  present  pastor,  speaking  in  1904,  said,  "On  both 
sides  the  magnanimous  spirit  of  fellowship  must  have  been  strong,  I  think; 
for  the  union  was  so  real  that,  coming  to  you  after  a  few  years'  interval, 
I  find  it  quite  impossible  to  discriminate  among  you  which  used  to  be 
which.  There  seems  to  be  no  'which'  now;  you  are  all  one."  "In  the 
Unity  of  the  Faith:  A  Sermon,"  p.  9. 


440  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

"To  the  Members  of  the  Congregation  Worship- 
ping in  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church: 

**Dear  Brethren: 

"The  dual  pastorate,  under  which  we  are  at  pres- 
ent ministering  to  you,  was  entered  upon  as  a  condi- 
tion of  the  union  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  with 
the  Brick  Church,  now  happily  and  successfully 
accomplished  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  are  con- 
cerned. We  recognized  at  the  time  that  this  duplicate 
arrangement  of  the  pastorate  was  experimental.  We 
are  now  convinced  that  it  is  not  calculated  to  be  the 
best  working  arrangement  for  the  church,  and  there- 
fore, that  it  ought  not  to  be  permanent.  After  earnest 
and  careful  consultation,  for  more  than  a  month, 
with  the  session  whom  you  have  appointed  as  your 
representatives  and  our  advisers,  we  find  them  unan- 
imously of  the  same  opinion.  Our  duty  is  therefore 
made  perfectly  clear  and  simple.  We  agreed  with 
each  other  and  with  you,  at  the  time  of  the  union, 
that  in  the  event  of  the  retirement,  death  or  resigna- 
tion of  one  of  the  pastors,  the  resignation  of  the  other 
should  be  immediately  presented.  We  intend  to 
keep  this  agreement  in  loyalty  to  each  other  and  to 
all  the  members  of  the  united  congregation.  With 
a  deep  and  single  desire  to  promote  the  best  interests 
of  the  church,  whose  servants  we  are,  and  with  sin- 
cere regrets  at  the  thought  of  the  dissolution  of  rela- 
tions which  have  been  so  pleasant,  we  come  together 
to  place  in  your  hands  our  resignations  from  the  dual 
pastorate  of  the  Brick  Church.  We  beg  you  to  unite 
with  us,  according  to  Presbyterian  law  and  usage,  in 
our  joint  and  several  application  to  the  Presbytery  to 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  441 

dissolve  the  pastoral  relation.  And  we  pray  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  wisdom  may  direct  you  and  us  in  all 
our  actions,  and  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may 
make  us  perfect  in  every  good  word  and  deed  to  obey 
him  and  to  serve  the  welfare  of  his  blessed  kingdom 
of  peace  and  love  upon  earth. 

"J.  H.  McIlvaine, 
**  Henry  van  Dyke." 

That  the  church  should  allow  both  its  pastors  to 
go  was  manifestly  out  of  the  question,  and  the  con- 
gregation was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  peculiarly 
embarrassing  necessity  of  making  a  choice  between 
them. 

But  here  the  qualities  of  Christian  generosity  and 
self-forgetfulness  in  the  former  members  of  the  old 
Church  of  the  Covenant,  already  exhibited  by  them 
at  the  time  of  the  union,  once  more  took  control  of 
the  situation.  They  were  now  members  of  the  Brick 
Church,  and  however  the  fact  might  be  disguised, 
the  choice  about  to  be  made  was  between  the  pastor 
whom  they  had  brought  with  them  into  the  union, 
and  the  man  who  had  been  pastor  of  the  Brick 
Church  for  ten  years  before  the  union  was  so  much 
as  thought  of. 

It  was  by  representatives  of  the  old  Covenant 
Church  that  the  deciding  vote  w^as  moved  and  sec- 
onded, approving  '  the  acceptance,  in  the  Christian 
spirit  in  which  it  is  proffered  of  the  proposal  of  Dr. 
McIlvaine  to  retire  from  the  copastorate,"  and  rec- 
ommending "that  Dr.  van  Dyke  be  requested  to 
withdraw  his  resignation."  No  better  evidence  could 
be  desired  of  the  spirit  in  which  this  action  was  pro- 


442  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

posed  and  adopted — for  the  vote  was  unanimous  in 
the  affirmative — than  the  words  with  which  Dr. 
Henry  D.  Noyes  had  accompanied  his  seconding  of 
the  motion.  **  There  may,  perhaps,  never  be  an- 
other time,"  he  said,  "when  such  a  word  as  is  in  my 
heart  may  perhaps  be  fittingly  spoken.  It  is  simply 
to  this  effect — it  is  only  the  personal  confirmation  of 
what  has  been  so  abundantly  and  eloquently  said  by 
both  the  pastors.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  for  me  to 
take  any  step  which  will  eventuate  in  the  removal 
from  the  pastoral  office  of  this  church  of  the  man 
whose  coming  to  New  York  was  to  no  small  degree 
due  to  my  personal  efforts.  Under  his  ministrations, 
I  have  sat  with  great  comfort  and  edification  and  de- 
light, and  when  the  movement  to  bring  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  into  close  relations  with  this  one  was 
initiated,  it  brought  with  it,  not  only  the  earnest  pur- 
poses of  our  pastor,  but  the  hearty  cooperation  of 
almost  all  the  members — practically  all  the  mem- 
bers— of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  Since  that 
consolidation  has  been  effected,  I  beg  to  assure  all  of 
you  that  there  has  been  but  one  heart  and  one  mind 
on  the  part  of  those  who  have  come  into  this  congre- 
gation— that  our  united  purpose  should  be  for  our 
mutual  good,  for  our  better  fitting  for  the  work  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  we  should  here  seek  together 
for  the  prosperity  of  this  old-established  and  re- 
nowned church.  And  at  this  moment,  when  circum- 
stances have  pointed  to  the  desirability  of  a  separate 
arrangement  in  the  pastorate,  while  I  am  sure  that 
I  voice  the  sentiment  of  many  that  it  is  with  deep 
regret  that  this  sundering  shall  be  effected,  it  is  at 
the  same  time,  true  that  the  dominant  thought  and 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  443 

feeling  in  the  heart  of  those  who  have  come  here  is 
that  we  want  the  prosperity  and  the  success  and  the 
consoHdation  in  work  of  this  church  itself.  We  are 
part  of  you;  we  have  joined  you;  we  have  no  pur- 
pose to  separate  from  you ;  we  clasp  hands  with  you, 
and  we  will  be  always  with  you  in  the  service  and 
work  of  our  blessed  Master." 

Wlien  the  chief  action  of  the  meeting  had  been 
taken,  another  resolution,  moved  and  seconded  by 
men  who  represented  the  older  Brick  Church  of  the 
days  before  the  union,  *  and  by  them  supported  in 
cordial  words  of  a  more  informal  and  personal  char- 
acter, was  offered  in  the  following  terms:  "Resolved, 
That  we  cannot  allow  Dr.  Mcllvaine  to  leave  us 
without  putting  upon  record  our  high  appreciation 
of  his  ability  as  a  preacher  and  his  endearing  quali- 
ties as  a  man.  To  the  friends  who  came  with  him  to 
the  united  church  he  has  added  the  larger  number  of 
those  to  whom  he  has  ministered  in  his  new  field. 
We  appreciate  the  unselfish  and  self-sacrificing  mo- 
tive which  has  led  him  to  insist  that  he  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  resign,  and  that  Dr.  van  Dyke  shall  be 
asked  to  stay.  We  wish  him  Godspeed,  and  shall 
pray  that  he  may  be  safely  kept  in  his  journeyings, 
and  prosper  in  any  new  field  of  labor  which  he  may 
select." 

^Mien  this  motion  has  been  heartily  and  unani- 
mously carried,  this  trying  experience,  which  had  yet 
been  the  means  of  revealing  in  a  new  light  the  Chris- 
tian strength  of  the  church,  was  brought  to  a  close. 
A  private  letter  written  at  the  time,  said,  in  describ- 
ing the  meeting,  "It  was  characterized  by  unusual 

*  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons  and  Dr.  Albert  R.  Ledoux. 


444  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

solemnity  and  impressiveness,  and  absolute  unanim- 
ity as  to  every  resolution  offered  and  proposition 
made.  .  .  .  When  the  meeting  was  dismissed  and 
the  strain  taken  off,  every  face  was  wreathed  in  smiles 
and  it  looked  like  the  departure  of  a  Christmas 
party." 

In  the  period  between  the  union  of  the  two  churches 
and  the  end  of  the  century  a  large  part  of  the  history 
of  the  Brick  Church  was  being  made  in  East  Forty- 
second  and  West  Thirty-fifth  streets,  in  the  two 
*' affiliated"  churches,  as  the  Brick  Church  loves  to 
call  them.  It  was  realized  at  the  time  that  the  ex- 
periment then  being  tried  in  both  of  them,  of  real  in- 
dependence within  a  real  fellowship,  was  one  that 
had  an  importance  far  more  than  local  or  temporary. 

The  new  Church  of  the  Covenant  had,  at  its  be- 
ginning, two  adjustments  to  make,  first  to  the  new 
duties  of  independence,  and  second,  to  the  new  rela- 
tion with  the  Brick  Church.  Of  its  success  in  the 
first  of  these  something  has  been  already  said,  *  and 
it  need  only  be  added  here  that  both  pastor  and 
people  used  to  the  full  the  new  privilege  of  inde- 
pendence, courageously  accepting  its  responsibilities, 
and  that,  at  the  same  time,  they  never  showed  the 
slightest  sign  of  forgetting  the  larger  interests  of 
Christ's  kingdom  which  were  vitally  bound  up  with 
the  continuance  of  the  plan  of  affiliation. 

The  second  adjustment,  to  the  Brick  Church  as 
successor  of  the  old  Church  of  the  Covenant,  was 
made  easy  by  the  loyal  and  thoroughly  Christian 
attitude  of  the  Brick  Church  itself.    When  the  union 

*  See  above,  p.  421, 


>Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....:.„|„|„„|^..„„^,„„,  


I'HK   I'KKSKNT  CHURCH  OI'  TllK  C(  )VENANT- 
MEMOIMAI.  CHAI'EL 


-FOKMKHLV 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  445 

was  made,  "we  were  assured,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  in 
1900,  "of  the  same  interest  and  sympathy  and  sup- 
port that  had  been  given  in  the  past.  That  pledge 
has  been  fulfilled  in  the  spirit  of  most  fraternal  love. 
Six  years  ago  we  were  strangers  to  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Brick  Church  and  to  its  pastor.  Dr.  van 
Dyke  has  been,  and  is  to-day,  our  loyal  and  loving 
friend,  and  his  devoted  people  have  followed  him  in 
this  loyalty  and  friendship.  The  word  'affiliation,' 
which  he  suggested  to  characterize  our  relations,  has 
love  for  its  root  idea.  .  .  .  Let  us  appreciate  it  more 
and  more  and  live  up  to  its  opportunities  and  respon- 
sibilities." To  this  summons  his  people  heartily 
responded. 

The  most  interesting  and  important  feature  of  the 
present  Church  of  the  Covenant  has  always  been  its 
strongly  marked  character  as  a  family  church.  In 
maintaining  this  characteristic  it  has  made  a  perma- 
nent place  for  itself  in  the  quarter  of  the  city  in  which 
it  is  situated,  where  another  church  without  this  dis- 
tinctive quality  might  easily  have  become  ineffective 
or  perhaps  failed  altogether. 

In  1894,  at  the  very  time  when  the  Covenant 
Church  was  starting  upon  its  independent  career,  the 
great  Protestant  Episcopal  parish  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's erected  its  splendid  parish  house  on  East 
Forty-second  Street,  less  than  a  block  from  the  Cove- 
nant's modest  building.  Many  prophesied  that  in 
five  years'  time  the  church  would  find  its  usefulness 
gone,  that  the  whole  Christian  work  of  the  neigh- 
borhood would  then  have  been  absorbed  by  its 
younger  rival.  But  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  re- 
fused to  admit  that  rivalry  had  anything  to  do  with 


446  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

the  situation.  Cooperation  suited  them  much  bet- 
ter. St.  Bartholomew's  parish  house  should  be  wel- 
comed as  an  ally,  supplying  in  particular  all  manner 
of  social  helps  that  the  people  of  the  district  needed, 
clubs,  classes,  gymnasium  and  the  like,  while  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant  would  continue  to  aid  in 
ministering  to  the  distinctly  spiritual  needs  of  the 
population,  and  with  the  more  concentration  of 
purpose  because  the  other  important  work  was  pro- 
vided for.  The  result  of  this  enlightened  and  truly 
Christian  attitude  was,  for  one  thing,  a  most  happy 
relation  of  cordial  fellowship  and  Christian  coopera- 
tion between  the  two  neighboring  organizations 
and,  for  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  in  her  indi- 
vidual work,  the  most  cheering  and  unmistakable 
success. 

Dr.  Mcllvaine,  writing  from  his  parish  in  Pitts- 
burgh on  March  5th,  1900,  said  to  his  former  col- 
league, Mr.  Webster:  *'I  congratulate  you  on  the 
completion  of  ten  years  of  arduous,  faithful,  hopeful 
service;  and  I  congratulate  the  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant on  the  progress  which  it  has  made  during  these 
ten  years  under  your  charge.  From  what  was  virtu- 
ally a  mission  chapel,  though  the  name  was  carefully 
and  wisely  avoided,  it  has  passed  into  the  larger 
duties  and  dignities  of  a  fully  organized  church,  in- 
heriting the  name  and  traditions,  and  in  part,  the 
affections  of  a  most  honored  and  beloved  church. 
Of  all  the  churches  that  I  have  served  or  may  be  per- 
mitted to  serve,  the  former  Church  of  the  Covenant 
holds  the  dearest  place  in  my  heart  and  always  will. 
It  was  so  earnest,  so  united  and  harmonious,  so  loyal, 
so  unselfish,   so  spiritually  minded,   and  so  kindly 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  447 

appreciative,  that  it  was  a  pleasure  and  a  joy  to 
be  its  pastor.  One  of  the  things  that  I  look  back 
upon  with  the  most  satisfaction  in  my  ministry 
was  the  securing  of  your  services  to  your  present 
charge." 

The  happy  impression  which  this  letter  produces, 
is  deepened  by  another  letter  written  on  the  same 
occasion  by  Dr.  van  Dyke.  An  extract  from  it  will 
serve  to  sum  up  the  result  of  the  work  of  the  Church 
of  the  Covenant  during  this  period.  "My  associa- 
tions, from  the  beginning,  with  your  church,"  Dr. 
van  Dyke  wrote,  "were  intimate  and  cordial.  The 
atmosphere  that  greeted  me,  on  my  first  visit  to  the 
church  as  one  of  the  triumvirate  of  pastors  bound  to- 
gether in  the  affiliation,  was  warm  and  friendly.  I 
felt  myself  at  once  at  home ;  it  seemed  to  me  a  '  home 
church.'  The  spirit  that  prevailed  there  was  the 
quiet,  firm,  fruitful  love  that  animates  the  household 
of  our  divine  Father.  The  loyalty  of  the  people 
toward  their  church  and  to  you,  their  pastor;  the 
evident  sincerity  of  their  worship  and  their  religious 
work;  the  temper  of  gladness  and  simplicity  and 
order  in  which  all  things  were  done,  gave  me  a  deep 
sense  of  satisfaction  and  comfort  in  your  company. 
All  that  I  heard  of  your  members;  of  their  patient 
continuance  in  well-doing,  and  of  their  willing  sacri- 
fices for  the  cause  of  religon,  gave  me  great  confidence 
in  them  and  made  me  feel  sure  they  were  Christians, 
not  in  name  only,  but  also  in  deed  and  truth.  .  .  . 
I  am  sure  that  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  is  doing 
good  in  New  York  City.  It  is  making  a  centre  of  light 
in  the  midst  of  darkness,  and  the  rays  from  it  flow 
out  into  many  a  city  home,  and  beyond  that  to  dis- 


448  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

tant  parts  of  our  land.  Personal  influence,  after  all, 
is  the  thing  that  counts  most  in  building  up  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  I  am  sure  that  you  realize  this  in 
the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  and  that  you  are  living 
up  to  it."  * 

Christ  Church,  the  affiliated  church  on  the  West 
Side,  had  six  years'  start  of  the  church  on  East  Forty- 
second  Street,  but  it  was  more  slow  in  "finding  it- 
self" than  was  the  younger  organization.  For  a 
number  of  years  a  spirit  of  disquiet  made  its  appear- 
ance from  time  to  time  in  the  congregation  and  even 
threatened  serious  consequences.  After  the  resigna- 
tion of  Dr.  Lampe  in  December,  1895,  f  great  diflS- 
culty  was  found  in  securing  a  new  pastor  and  the 
Rev.  Richard  R.  Wightman  was  not  installed  until 
April,  1897. 

When  this  event  had  taken  place,  the  session  of  the 
Brick  Church  felt  a  great  sense  of  relief,  and  with 
much  thankfulness  they  received  the  report  that  an 
era  of  prosperity  and  good  feeling  seemed  to  have 
set  in,  that  many  new  members  were  being  added 

*  This  picture  would  be  incomplete  without  a  particular  reference  to 
one  who,  from  1882  to  the  present  time  has  served  the  Church  of  the 
Covenant.  "One  of  the  most  faithful,  devoted  and  consecrated  Christian 
workers  in  this  or  any  city,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "and  most  invaluable  to 
the  development  of  the  church  life  here,  has  been  Miss  Anna  M.  Juppe. 
In  addition  to  the  administering  of  the  benevolent  work  of  the  parish,  she 
has  taught  the  primary  department  in  the  Sunday-school  and  had  charge 
of  an  average  of  three  organizations  each  week.  Each  summer  she  man- 
ages the  fresh-air  work,  which  has  brought  comfort  to  thousands  of  homes 
and  more  than  10,000  people  in  these  ten  years.  .  .  .  She  is  a  tried  and 
trusted  assistant  to  the  pastor,  as  well  as  a  most  useful  bond  between  our 
church  and  the  churches  that  have  furnished  her  support  these  years. 
Her  earnest,  quiet  work  in  the  spirit  of  prayer  and  love  has  entered  largely 
into  the  life  and  growth  here."    "A  Decade  of  Work,"  p.  11. 

t  To  accept  a  call  to  the  chair  of  Old  Testament  Literature  in  Omaha 
Theological  Seminary. 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  449 

under  the  new  pastor's  ministry,  that  the  attendance 
at  the  Christ  Church  services  was  increasing,  and 
that,  in  general,  the  prospects  of  the  church  seemed 
bright.  It  was  determined  that,  if  possible,  the  future 
should  be  made  secure.  Following  the  wise  plan 
which  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  happily  adopted 
at  the  beginning,  Christ  Church  now  received  into 
its  membership  certain  chosen  members  of  the  Brick 
Church,  who  unselfishly  transferred  their  allegiance 
to  the  organization  in  which  they  felt  their  service 
would  most  contribute  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  These 
were  Mr.  Daniel  J.  Holden,  who  had  been  clerk  of 
the  Brick  Church  session,  Mr.  William  B.  Isham, 
Jr.,  who  had  been  secretary  of  the  board  of  deacons, 
and  Mr.  Fulton  McMahon.  The  two  former  were 
elected  at  once  to  the  office  of  elder  and,  with  Mr.  Wil- 
liam H.  Wilson,  also  elected  at  this  time,  added  greatly 
to  the  strength  of  the  Christ  Church  session.  From 
that  time  on  the  voyage,  though  often  requiring  hard 
work,  of  course,  on  the  part  of  the  crew,  was,  in  the 
main,  smooth  sailing. 

The  Sunday-school  had  suffered  but  little  from  the 
church's  perplexities.  Mr.  Holden,  who  had  become 
superintendent  in  1877,  held  that  office  until  1894. 
It  was  a  devoted  and  most  successful  service,  whose 
termination  was  very  reluctantly  accepted  by  the 
session  of  the  Brick  Church.  Adding  his  years  as 
teacher  to  those  of  his  superintendency,  Mr.  Holden 
had  served  the  Sunday-school  for  thirty  years,  and, 
although  he  felt  constrained  to  retire  at  this  time 
from  his  office  in  the  school,  his  relation  to  the  work 
on  West  Thirty-fifth  Street  was  very  far  from  being 
ended.     As  has  been  stated  in  the  preceding  para- 


450  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

graph,  he  entered  two  years  later,  into  closer  relations 
with  it  than  ever  before.  * 

Mr.  Holden  was  succeeded  in  the  superintendency 
by  Mr.  Fulton  McMahon,  whose  "diligent  and  faith- 
ful attention  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  that 
office"  was  gratefully  acknowledged,  when  he  re- 
signed in  1897.  Mr.  Herbert  Parsons,  who  next  held 
this  office,  carried  forward  with  great  success  the 
work  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  his  father. 

Reference  was  made  in  an  earlier  chapter  to  the 
beginnings  of  social  and  industrial  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Thirty-fifth  Street  organization.  The 
sewing-school  had  flourished  through  all  these  years 
and  accomplished  an  incalculable  amount  of  good; 
and  from  time  to  time,  other  enterprises  of  a  similar 
nature  had  been  carried  on  with  more  or  less  suc- 
cess. Special  mention  must  be  made  of  the  Boys' 
Club,  which  *'may  trace  its  origin  back  as  far  as  1885,. 
when,  through  the  interested  activity  of  Miss  Kinnie  f 

*  Mr.  Holden's  devotion  to  all  the  interests  connected  with  the  Brick 
Church  is  described  in  the  following  minute  from  the  session  records,  passed 
in  November,  1897.  "The  transfer  of  his  membership  to  Christ  Church 
by  Mr.  Daniel  J.  Holden  makes  suitable  from  the  session  something  more 
than  the  more  formal  action  which  is  required.  Mr.  Holden  was  brought 
up  in  the  church:  his  identification  with  it  has  continued  during  his  whole 
life:  his  father  was  a  useful  and  honored  member  of  the  session  before 
Mr.  Holden's  birth.  From  the  time  that  Mr.  Holden's  age  permitted  he 
has,  as  teacher  and  subsequently  as  superintendent  of  the  branch  school, 
as  member  of  the  board  of  trustees,  as  an  elder  and  as  clerk  of  session, 
given  to  the  work  of  the  church  an  amount  of  service,  the  value  of  which 
is  incalculable.  It  is  because  of  his  belief  that  he  can  be  of  better  service 
by  becoming  a  member  of  Christ  Church,  that  Mr.  Holden  makes  the  sacri- 
fice of  breaking  up  his  old  associations,  of  leaving  positions  which  were  most 
congenial  to  him,  and  of  going  among  the  people  who,  largely  through  his 
instrumentality,  have  identified  themselves  with  what,  for  so  many  years, 
was  the  Brick  Church  Mission."    Mr.  Holden  died  on  June  21st,  1903. 

t  Miss  Margaret  E.  Kinnie,  who  is  still  one  of  the  faithful  workers  at 
Chi'ist  Church. 


MURRAY  KINDERGARTEN   AND  THE  LINCOLN  CADETS, 
CHRLST  CHURCH 


UNION  AND  AFFILIATION  451 

a  small  company  of  boys  was  gathered  for  purposes 
of  amusement  and  instruction  on  Thursday  and 
Friday  evenings.  This  group  of  boys  was  later 
organized  into  the  Lincoln  Cadets  and  became  the 
nucleus  about  which  the  more  extensive  activities 
[of  later  years]  have  developed."  *  It  happened  that 
at  this  juncture,  the  Brick  Church  had  for  the  first 
time  called  into  service  an  assistant  minister,  to 
lighten  somewhat  the  heavy  burden  which  Dr.  van 
Dyke  was  carrying  alone.  The  Rev.  James  M. 
Farr,  Jr.,  had  entered  upon  his  duties  in  January, 
1897,  and  at  once  he  began  to  interest  himself  in  the 
work  among  the  boys  at  Christ  Church,  a  fact  dis- 
tinctly prophetic,  as  the  future  proved. 

In  the  fall  of  1897,  at  Mr.  Farr's  request,  a  few 
hundred  dollars  were  secured  from  Brick  Church 
people  for  the  purpose  of  providing  permanent  head- 
quarters for  the  Boys'  Club,  and  although  nothing 
better  could  at  that  time  be  accomplished  than  the 
renting  and  fitting  up  of  rooms  in  the  basement  of 
No.  262  West  Thirty-fifth  Street,  this  may,  neverthe- 
less, be  regarded  as  the  definite  beginning  of  the 
larger  social  and  industrial  work  which  grew  up  so 
speedily  thereafter. 

The  next  steps  in  the  development  may  be  given 
in  Mr.  Farr's  words:  "In  the  same  winter  of  1897, 
the  Girls'  Club,  which  had  been  organized  the  pre- 
ceding winter  by  Miss  E.  W.  Hatfield,  secured  rooms 
in  the  house  222  West  Thirty-fifth  Street.  The  fol- 
lowing fall,  in  response  to  an  appeal  by  Dr.  van 
Dyke  for  better  quarters  for  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  clubs, 
Mr.  D.  H.  McAlpin  presented  and  remodelled  the 

*  "The  Story  of  the  Clu-ist  Church  Work,"  pp.  26  /. 


452  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

house  224  West  Thirty-fifth  Street,  in  memory  of 
his  son  Randolph.  The  success  which  attended 
the  opening  of  the  Church  House  was  immediate. 
Boys'  Clubs,  Girls'  Clubs,  McAlpin  Society,  Van 
Dyke  Club,  kitchen  garden,  cooking  classes,  were 
soon  crowded  to  their  utmost  capacity."  *  It  was 
evident  already  that  this  was  but  the  beginning 
of  a  very  much  greater  work,  to  which  God  had 
been  leading  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church  through 
many  years. 

It  will  have  been  apparent  that  the  church  at  the 
centre,  on  the  brow  of  Murray  Hill,  from  which  had 
come  forth  the  money  and  the  men  necessary  for 
accomplishing  the  work  already  described  in  this 
chapter,  must  have  been  in  a  most  vigorous  condi- 
tion. It  would,  in  truth,  be  hard  to  overstate  the 
prosperity  which  she  was  enjoying  under  Dr.  van 
Dyke's  remarkable  leadership.  And  best  of  all,  it 
was  not  the  prosperity  of  ease,  but  the  prosperity  of 
active  and  generous  enterprise. 

In  the  matter  of  sharing  the  wider  benevolences  of 
the  Church  at  large,  for  example,  the  Brick  Church 
was,  in  the  year  1896-1897,  the  largest  contributor  in 
the  denomination  to  the  work  of  the  boards,  and  a 
year  later  Dr.  van  Dyke  was  able  to  report  that  the 
total  contributions  of  the  church  were  twice  as  much 
as  in  the  year  preceding,  being  *'the  largest  sum 
given  for  Christian  work  by  any  Presbyterian  church 
in  America,  and  probably  in  the  world." 

The  attendance  at  the  church  services  was  another 
indication  of  success.    "  On  many  Sunday  mornings," 

*  "The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work,"  pp.  27  /. 


HENKV    \AN    DYKE 


UNION  AND   AFFILIATION  453 

'it  was  reported  in  1898,  "it  has  been  impossible  to 
accommodate  the  congregations  seeking  admittance,'* 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  one  hundred  new 
sittings  had  been  added  in  the  gallery  for  the  spe- 
cial accommodation  of  the  many  young  men  who 
regularly  attended.  One  important  element  in  the 
attractiveness  of  the  Brick  Church  for  young  men  at 
this  time  was  the  Sunday  morning  Bible  class  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  Theron  G.  Strong,  and  another  was 
the  spirit  of  work  which  more  and  more  was  taking 
possession  of  the  membership.  The  gospel  of  service 
was  constantly  heard  from  the  Brick  Church  pulpit. 
"No  able-bodied  Christian  man,"  said  Dr.  van  Dyke, 
"has  a  right  to  be  merely  a  passenger  in  the  church."* 

That  Dr.  van  Dyke  should  ever  go  away  to  any 
other  field  was  not  allowed  to  be  so  much  as  men- 
tioned, though  more  than  once,  when  his  health 
failed,  as  it  did  from  time  to  time,  or  when  his  suc- 
cesses in  literature  proved  that  there  was  distin- 
guished service  awaiting  him  in  that  field  also,  the 
fear  of  his  departure  was  in  many  hearts. 

He  could  have  no  doubt  that  his  people  were  de- 
voted to  him.  Every  opportunity  was  taken  to  ex- 
press the  affection  with  which  he  was  regarded. 
The  celebration  of  his  fifteenth  anniversary  as  pas- 
tor was  made  notable  by  the  dedication  of  a  new 
organ  in  the  church  as  well  as  by  a  gift  to  himself. 
The  announcement  of  his  call  to  the  chair  of  English 
Literature  in  Johns  Hopkins,  in  January,  1899,  was 
made  the  occasion  of  such  strong  expressions  of  the 
church's  gratitude  to  him  and  dependence  upon 
him,  that  he  could  not  mistake  their  significance. 

*  Pastoral  Letter  in  "Year  Book  for  1898-1899,"  p.  6. 


454  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

But,  although  he  was  persuaded  to  decline  the 
Johns  Hopkins  call,  there  were  several  different 
reasons,  each  in  itself  weighty,  by  which  he  was 
forced  to  regard  his  withdrawal  from  New  York  as 
most  advisable,  if  not  imperative,  so  that  when  later 
in  1899,  he  was  called  to  the  newly  created  Murray 
chair  of  English  Literature  in  his  own  university, 
Princeton,  he  felt  compelled  to  accept,  and  this  time 
his  determination  was  inexorable. 

There  was,  however,  one  last  service  which  he 
would  render  to  his  church  before  he  said  good-bye. 
He  would  remain  at  the  helm  until  his  successor  had 
been  found  and  was  ready  to  begin  his  work.  At 
length,  in  January,  1900,  he  could  say,  "The  man 
whom  you  have  chosen  as  your  pastor  has  said  that 
he  is  willing  to  come  to  you." 

Dr.  van  Dyke  had  been  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church 
for  seventeen  years,  "the  work  of  a  third  of  a  life- 
time," as  he  himself  said.  He  had  rendered  a  re- 
markable service ;  he  had  endeared  himself  to  all  his 
people;  he  had  left  the  impress  of  his  thought  and 
his  faith,  not  only  on  the  Brick  Church,  but  on  the 
great  city  in  which  it  stood.  "In  the  succession  of 
pastors  of  the  Brick  Church" — with  these  words  the 
congregation  closed  their  affectionate  address  of  fare- 
well— "there  have  been  noble  names,  men  who  were 
notable  in  doing  the  work  of  the  church.  To  not 
one  does  it  owe  more  than  to  Henry  van  Dyke." 
The  truth  was  that  the  Brick  Church  of  the  closing 
nineteenth  century,  the  church  which  then  held  an 
acknowledged  place  among  the  half-dozen  leading 
churches  of  America,  was  almost  wholly  the  product 
of  his  distinguished  ministry. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

A  GOLDEN  YEAR:   1900-1901 

"That  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able  to  comprehend  with 
all  saints  what  is  the  breadth  and  length  and  depth  and  height;  and  to  know  the 
love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge." — Ephesians  3  :  17-19. 

"  It  seems  something  of  a  paradox,  but  nothing  has  made  me  feel  so  much  at 
home  in  New  York  as  going  away.  So  many  people  have  written  me  notes  or 
spoken  to  me — telling  me  this  or  that,  of  some  sermon  or  letter  or  little  'confab' 
that  had  meant  something  to  them — that  I  have  suddenly  felt  that  I  really  be- 
longed to  you,  and  found  my  heart  quickening  at  the  thought  of  corning  back  home." 
— Maltbie  Davenport  Babcock,  "Letters  from  Egypt  and  Palestine,"  p.  1. 

I  ACCEPT  as  from  God  and  for  God  the  call 
which  you  have  sent  me."  When  these  words 
from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Maltbie  Davenport  Bab- 
cock were  received  in  the  middle  of  November,  1899, 
the  people  of  the  Brick  Church,  with  their  pastor, 
who  had  stood  by  the  ship  until  a  new  helmsman 
should  be  found,  knew  that  they  were  accepting  a 
great  sacrifice  from  the  man  who  was  coming  to 
them.  Yet  because  of  their  belief  in  the  unpar- 
alleled importance  of  the  work  to  which  they  called 
him,  they  had  not  hesitated  to  urge  upon  him  his 
removal  from  the  Brown  Memorial  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Baltimore  to  the  Brick  Church  in  New 
York;  and  he,  on  his  part,  when  once  the  path  of 
duty  was  clear  to  him,  did  not  stop  because  it  de- 
manded sacrifice. 

One  of  his  intimate  friends,  to  whom  he  went  for 
counsel, '''  has  shared  with  us  the  knowledge  of  what 

*  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall. 

455 


456  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

the  step  cost  and  how  nobly  it  was  taken.  Dr.  Bab- 
cock  "told  me,"  he  says,  "how  the  very  roots  of  his 
life  had  taken  hold  of  the  Baltimore  work  and  the 
Baltimore  people,  and  I  asked  him  if  that  was  any 
reason  why,  at  God's  bidding,  these  roots  should  not 
be  torn  up,  that  he  might  come  to  a  place  that  needed 
him  more.  I  shall  never  forget  how  he  took  that 
thought;  it  seemed  to  appeal  to  the  heroic  elements 
in  his  great  nature.  ...  It  was  like  a  veritable  tear- 
ing asunder  of  his  heart,  for  him  to  leave  that  be- 
loved life  in  Baltimore,  yet  so  much  more  did  he  love 
Christ  than  any  comfort  or  luxury  of  human  friend- 
ship that  he  seemed  to  rejoice  in  his  own  sufferings, 
and  to  be  glad  that  he  could  test  by  pain  the  reality 
of  his  devotion  to  the  pure  will  of  God."  * 

Dr.  Babcock's  early  life  had  not  been  marked  by 
unusual  events.  Born  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  on  August 
3d,  1858,  he  "was  reared  in  a  home  fragrant  with 
Christian  influence  and  in  close  touch  with  the  life 
and  work  of  the  church.  His  mother  was  a  woman 
of  unusual  strength  and  beauty  of  character,  whom 
the  son  resembled  in  both  face  and  spirit."  f 

In  1879  he  graduated  from  Syracuse  University, 
and  three  years  later  from  Auburn  Theological  Sem- 
inary. Those  who  knew  him  during  these  days  of 
preparation  were  fond  of  telling  in  later  years  of  the 
place  of  leadership  which  was  instinctively  accorded 
him  by  his  fellow-students.  "He  was  then  regard- 
ed," we  are  told,  "as  the  most  brilliant  and  versatile 
man  of  his  class — one  of  those  fortunate  fellows  who 
can  do  almost  anything  equally  well,  from  playing  on 

*  "Brick  Church  Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  146. 
t  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  149. 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  457 

a  flute  to  debating  a  difficult  problem  of  statecraft  or 
gracing  a  fashionable  drawing-room."  * 

His  first  pastorate,  of  five  years'  duration,  was  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Lockport,  N.  Y., 
from  which,  in  1887,  he  was  called  to  succeed  Dr.' 
Frank  W.  Gunsaulus  in  the  Brown  Memorial  Church 
of  Baltimore.     Long  before  the  twelve  years  of  his 
second  pastorate  were  ended,  it  had  been  recognized 
that  he  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  noblest  Chris- 
tian personalities  in  the  American  ministry.    Churches 
in  many  different  cities  would  have  been  glad  to 
draw  him  to  them,  and  Baltimore  rejoiced  in  the 
possession  of  him.     "His  work  there,"  said  one  of 
his  friends,  t  "was  eminently  blessed  of  God.     He 
followed  a  line  of  brilliant  preachers,  but  he  equalled 
them  in  his  hold  upon  this  congregation  and  the  en- 
tire community.    He  attracted  to  himself  more  than 
ordinary  affection.    He  won  all  hearts  by  his  enthu- 
siasm, his  noble  manliness,  his  devotion  to  his  work, 
his    broad    sympathies,    his    fine    friendliness.      His 
preaching  was  intensely  earnest,  filled  with  life  and 
spiritual  power,  practical  and  modern,  vivacious  and 
varied   in   style,   and   full   of   Christ.     He  gathered 
around  him  a  large  company  of  men  and  women  to 
whom  he  imparted  his  own  warm  spirit."  | 

When  his  departure  from  Baltimore  was  deter- 
mined, the  newspapers  spoke  of  it  as  "a  public 
calamity,"  and  of  him  as  "a  man  we  cannot  spare." 
Not  in  any  formal  sense,  but  literally,  his  going  was 
felt  as  a  universal  personal  loss.     A  street-car  con- 

*  "Brown  Memorial  Monthly,"  May,  1900,  p.  112. 

t  Dr.  George  T.  Purves. 

t  "Brown  Memorial  Monthly,"  June,  1901,  p.  181. 


458  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

ductor  had  exclaimed  to  one  of  his  parishioners 
when  a  previous  call  was  pending:  "  You  miss  him! 
Why,  Fd  miss  him.  This  whole  city  would  miss 
him!"* 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  in  1899,  when  Dr. 
Babcock  was  called  to  the  Brick  Church,  he  had  a 
remarkable  career  behind  him;  but  it  was  character- 
istic of  him  that  with  this  he  was  very  little  con- 
cerned. We  are  told  that,  when  asked  for  an  outline 
of  his  earlier  life  for  publication  in  the  Brick  Church 
Year  Book  on  the  eve  of  his  arrival,  he  replied,  "Do 
let  the  sketch  go.  Let's  face  the  future  and  see  if  we 
can  make  a  little  history."  The  words  sound  like 
him.  Certainly  it  was  to  the  future  rather  than  the 
past  that  he  was  looking,  as  he  entered  upon  his  new 
work.  Old  victories  and  regrets  for  old  joys  now 
abandoned  were  alike  left  behind  him,  and  he  gave 
himself  to  his  ministry  in  New  York  with  an  enthu- 
siasm, and  a  fulness  of  joy  in  the  very  effort  of  it, 
that  could  not  be  mistaken. 

His  first  day  in  the  Brick  Church  was  Sunday, 
January  14th,  1900.  f  According  to  custom  it  was 
the  day  when,  in  place  of  the  usual  sermon,  the 
report  of  the  year  from  the  two  affiliated  churches 
was  given  by  the  Covenant  and  Christ  Church  pas- 
tors, preparatory  to  taking  up  the  usual  offering  for 
that  double  work.  Dr.  Babcock,  therefore,  had  but 
to  introduce  the  subject  and  make  the  brief  applica- 
tion at  the  close;  he  was  dealing,  moreover,  with 
a  complex  work  to  which  he  was  still  almost  a  stran- 
ger ;  yet  at  once  every  one  at  the  service  that  morning 

*  From  the  "Evangelist,"  quoted  in  "Year  Book,"  1899-1900,  p.  12, 
t  He  was  not  installed  until  February  27th. 


MAl.TBIE   1).   iSAUt'OCK 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  459 

knew  that  there  was  a  strong  hand  at  the  helm,  and 
that  the  Brick  Church,  whose  prosperity  in  recent 
years  had  seemed  almost  too  good  to  last,  might 
hope  to  sail  ahead  on  her  course  without  so  much  as 
slowing  down. 

Even  the  strangers  who  had  come  to  the  church 
that  day  out  of  curiosity,  or  because  deputed  to 
report  the  new  preacher  in  the  next  day's  newspapers, 
were  plainly  made  aware  that  they  were  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  power.  It  was  not  so  much  what  he  said 
that  impressed  the  congregation,  as  the  man  himself, 
his  personality,  whose  influence  made  an  instan- 
taneous impression.  The  "Tribune"  thus  described 
him  on  Monday  morning:  "He  is  a  tall,  slender,  and 
well  built  man,  with  sharp  features  that  are  clean  cut 
and  attractive.  .  .  .  He  has  a  habit  of  throwing  his 
shoulders  back  that  gives  an  air  of  manly  frankness 
to  what  he  says.  .  .  .  Although  of  youthful  appear- 
ance"— he  was  but  forty-one  years  old — "he  bore 
himself  with  a  natural  dignity  and  confidence  that 
made  him  master  of  the  situation  at  once."  This  is 
manifestly  the  witness  of  one  who  was  recording 
a  first  impression,  and  it  deals  chiefly  with  externals, 
but  even  through  this  crude  medium,  one  is  able  to 
feel  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Babcock's  deep  impression 
upon  the  New  York  public. 

A  week  later  the  reporter  was  saying  of  the  new 
pastor's  second  Sunday-morning  service  in  the  Brick 
Church,  "Probably  no  person  who  heard  the  sermon 
yesterday  could  have  told  afterward  without  looking 
at  his  watch  whether  the  sermon  was  long  or  short"; 
and  his  characterization  of  the  preacher's  method,  if 
not   altogether   adequate,   was   certainly   suggestive: 


460  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

"Dr.  Babcock  preached  in  little  whirlwinds,"  he 
said.  "He  took  up  one  thought  after  another, 
wound  it  up  in  a  whirl  of  apt  words,  and  sent  it  spin- 
ning at  the  congregation."  A  letter  from  a  member 
of  the  Brick  Church  recording  the  impression  made 
by  this  same  sermon,  said,  "He  is  a  rapid  talker — 
no  notes  of  any  kind — full  of  anecdotes  and  illus- 
trations, and  changes  rapidly  from  wit  to  serious- 
ness." 

It  was  evident  at  once,  as  these  informal  observa- 
tions indicate,  that  Dr.  Babcock  would  not  lack  for 
hearers,  but  it  was  soon  evident,  also,  that  his  hold 
upon  his  audience  was  not  due  to  any  mere  attrac- 
tiveness of  method  nor  even  to  the  charm  of  his  per- 
sonality alone.  There  could  be  no  doubt,  as  the 
weeks  went  by,  that  people  came  to  hear  him  because 
his  message  satisfied  the  hunger  of  their  hearts,  be- 
cause he  gave  them  new  strength  and  purpose,  be- 
cause he  brought  them  into  real  touch  with  God. 
This  was  the  final  and  universal  testimony  of  those 
to  whom  he  ministered:  "Above  all,"  they  said, 
".  .  .  he  was  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  an  ambas- 
sador of  Christ.  This  was  his  only  ambition  and  it 
satisfied  him.  .  .  .  What  a  preacher  he  was!  How 
his  strength  and  his  talents  all  combined  to  make  him 
a  great  and  commanding  figure  in  the  pulpit!  His 
manner  and  method  were  peculiarly  his  own,  but 
men  who  crowded  *  to  hear  him  went  away  with  new 

*  Not  only  at  the  Sunday-morning  service,  but  in  the  afternoons  as  well 
the  church  was  too  small  to  hold  the  congregation.  The  Wednesday  even- 
ing meetings  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  lecture-room  to  the  utmost.  The 
peculiar  charm  of  the  week-day  meetings  was  their  more  informal  and  per- 
sonal character.  It  was  said  that  Dr.  Babcock  "believes  in  making  the 
Wednesday  evening  prayer-meeting  an  occasion  for  exchange  of  confi- 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  461 

conceptions  of  his  Master,  moved  to  higher  stand- 
ards of  living."  * 

One  is  tempted  to  linger  over  the  reports  of  those 
sermons  and  services  in  the  spring  and  fall  of  1900; 
they  came  from  so  many  different  sources,  and  are 
so  cheering  in  their  evidence  that  the  true  message  of 
Jesus  Christ  will  find  out  and  satisfy  all  that  is  best 
in  our  common  human  nature.  At  least  a  few  frag- 
ments from  the  report  of  a  stranger,  who  happened 
in  at  a  service  one  Sunday  in  February,  may  be 
quoted,  because  they  say  of  Dr.  Babcock  what  every 
one  was  feeling.  "If  it  had  not  been  for  the  unusual 
forcefulness  of  his  sermon,"  says  this  visitor,  "I 
think  the  dominant  impression  I  should  have  carried 
away  would  have  been  that  of  his  remarkable  power 
in  prayer.  *  Reality '  more  than  any  other  word  char- 
acterizes it."  The  truth  of  this  judgment  will  be 
confirmed  by  all  who  had  opportunity  to  know  the 
facts;  and  hardly  less  significant  is  this  other  refer- 
ence, to  his  manner  of  giving  the  announcements: 
*' There  was  an  unusual  number  of  notices  that  morn- 
ing, but  Dr.  Babcock  was  more  than  equal  to  them, 
injecting  a  touch  of  humor  into  a  function  which 
often  is  tedious."  Nor  was  it  humor  only  that  made 
that  weekly  notice-giving  a  memorable  part  of  the 
Sunday  services.  There  was  a  note  of  summons  in 
Dr.  Babcock's  way  of  asking  for  a  gift  of  money  or 
for  personal  service,  that  stirred  and  compelled  his 
hearers  like  the  Master's  "Follow  me."     "The  ser- 


dences  with  his  congregation."  He  then  shared  with  his  people  many  of 
his  pastoral  experiences,  so  far  as  was  possible  without  revealing  the  iden- 
tity of  the  individuals  concerned. 

*  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  140. 


462  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

mon  reached  at  last,"  continues  the  report  of  this 
February  service,  "Dr.  Babcock  sprang  forward 
with  the  eagerness  of  a  race  horse";  and  then  follows 
an  outline  of  what  the  writer  describes  as  the  most 
tender,  logical,  and  powerful  presentation  of  "the 
real  gospel  of  Jesus"  that  he  had  ever  heard. 

But  perhaps  the  best  expression  of  the  significance 
of  Dr.  Babcock's  preaching  was  a  single  sentence 
spoken  by  a  member  of  the  Brick  Church  congrega- 
tion: "To  hear  one  of  his  sermons  is  to  assume  a 
great  responsibility."  * 

Back  of  the  preacher  was  the  man.  The  message 
had  true  Christian  power  because  it  was  spoken  by 
a  Christian.  No  one  who  knew  him  had  any  doubt 
of  that.  "His  religious  life  was  so  real,  so  positive, 
so  vital,  so  spiritual,  that  to  be  in  his  presence  for 
only  a  few  minutes  was  to  receive  a  benediction  as 
from  the  heavens.  His  intimacy  with  Jesus  Christ 
was  ever  apparent.  .  .  .  He  walked  and  talked  with 
God."  f  And  to  this  testimony  of  his  friends  it  may 
be  added  that  the  blessing  of  his  own  life  was  im- 
parted freely  to  others,  because  he  walked  and  talked 
with  his  fellow-men  with  the  same  sincerity  and 
simple-heartedness.  "Genial  and  buoyant  of  tem- 
perament, always  aglow  with  sunshine  and  scintil- 
lating with  humor,  optimistic,  sympathetic,  appre- 
ciative of  others'  work  or  efforts,  and  charitable 
toward  the  faults  or  weaknesses  of  those  less  gifted 
than  himself;  never  patronizing  or  high-minded, 
never  self-centred  or  self-conscious — it  was  an  in- 
spiration to  be  in  his  company,  and  one  always  left 

*  "Year  Book,"  1900-1901,  p.  4. 

t  Tribute  of  "Chi  Alpha,"  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  148. 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  463 

it  spiritually  regaled  and  strengthened."  *  *'  He  had,'* 
said  one  of  his  friends,  "the  sprightliness  of  a  boy 
with  the  maturity  of  a  man.  He  was  full  of  humor 
and  fond  of  healthy  play,  yet  retained  the  spiritual 
temper  of  a  servant  of  God.  He  had  also  an  artist's 
soul.  Music  was  a  passion  with  him ;  song  and  poetry 
a  delio'ht.  .  .  .  His  enthusiasm  was  conta<»:ious.  .  .  . 
His  genuineness  of  character,  his  sincerity  and  nat- 
uralness, made  him  peculiarly  lovable  to  those 
who  knew  him."  f  He  was,  as  was  said  of  him  at 
the  General  Assembly  in  Philadelphia  a  few  days 
after  the  news  of  his  death  had  been  received,  "a 
David  for  sweet  song,  a  Paul  for  fiery  zeal,  an  Apol- 
los  for  eloquence,  a  Jonathan  for  friendship,  and 
a  John  for  heavenly  spirit."  J 

If  it  were  to  be  supposed  that  his  preaching  was  the 
chief  part  of  his  work,  a  very  imperfect  conception 
would  be  formed  of  his  ministry.  The  wonder  was, 
when  he  found  time  to  prepare  his  sermons,  among 
the  thronging  duties  that  filled  his  days  and  the  de- 
mands upon  his  personal  sympathy  which  he  always 
regarded  as  having  precedence  over  everything  else. 
How  large  that  personal  service  was  will  never  be 
known  in  this  world,  but  the  instances  of  it  that  have 
been  told  by  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people,  in  his 
church  and  out  of  it,  friends  and  strangers,  old  and 
young,  people  in  need  of  almost  every  conceivable  sort 
of  help,  of  mind,  body,  and  estate,  can  leave  no  doubt 
that  his  ministry  to  individuals  would  alone  have  pro- 
vided more  than  enough  work  for  any  ordinary  man. 

*  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  148. 

t  "Brown  Memorial  Monthly,"  June,  1901,  p.  182. 

t  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  139. 


464  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

A  slip  of  paper,  found  after  his  death  In  an  old 
parish  directory  of  the  Brick  Church,  from  which  he 
had  apparently  been  copying,  preserves  for  us,  in  the 
form  of  hasty  memoranda,  in  his  own  hand-writing, 
the  record  of  one  day's  occupations  No  doubt  it 
was  a  day  more  crowded  than  was  usual,  else  he 
would  not  have  thus  recorded  it,  yet  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  Items,  it  might  have  been  duplicated  by 
many  another.  The  following  is  a  transcript  of  this 
fragment  of  autobiography: 

Orange — Bible. 

6.50,  Shower  bath — exercise. 

7.30,  Quiet  time. 

7.45,  Breakfast. 

8.15,  Prayer  and  music. 
Call  on  church  work. 

8.45,  Study— 30  letters  till 
10.00,  Study  on  sermons. 
11.00,  Funeral. 
11.30,  Photo  sitting. 
12.00,  Study — sermon  (sitting  to  artist). 

1.00,  Lunch — company. 

2.00,  Nap. 

2.30,  Six  interviews. 

3.15,  Dictation,  writing  and  study  on  three 
different  themes,  shaping  for 
Sunday. 

4.00,  Dress  for  engagement  [  ?]. 

4.15,  Calls. 

5.00,  Wedding. 

5.30-6.00,  Calls. 

6.00-6.40,  Study,  prayer-meeting. 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  465 

6.45, *  Dinner. 

7.30,  Study  half-hour. 
8.00,  Prayer-meeting. 
9.00,  Session  meeting. 

It  has  often  been  regretted  that  Dr.  Babcock 
never  wrote  a  book,  but  it  is  not  strange  that  in  a  Hfe 
as  full  as  his,  and  as  exhausting  to  both  mind  and 
spirit,  there  was  no  room  for  that  kind  of  undertaking. 
*'Do  not  talk  to  me  about  such  a  thing  as  publica- 
tion," he  is  reported  to  have  said  to  one  who  urged 
him  to  prepare  a  volume  of  sermons  for  the  press, 
"I  have  no  hankering  for  going  down  to  posterity  in 
h<alf  calf.  But  if  I  ever  do  [write  a  book],  it  must  be 
some  time  when  I  have  broken  a  leg." 

The  year  of  Dr.  Babcock's  ministry  in  the  Brick 
Church  was  momentous  rather  than  eventful,  yet 
even  in  that  short  time  important  results  had  begun 
to  appear.  He  had  in  particular  seized  from  the  be- 
ginning upon  the  work  which  had  developed  in  the 
Christ  Church  House,  as  a  great  opportunity  which 
the  Brick  Church  had  only  begun  to  improve.  His 
pastorate  was  but  three  months  old  when  he  had  se- 
cured the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  to 
consider  the  general  subject  of  the  enlargement  of 
the  work  on  the  West  Side.  The  Church  House, 
though  only  a  year  old  when  he  came,  had  already 
proved  inadequate  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  work, 
and  Dr.  Babcock  soon  determined  in  his  own  mind 
that  the  first  definite  task  of  his  ministry  along  the 
line  of  material  progress  should  be  the  securing  of 
new  and  larger  quarters. 

♦  Here  is  given  the  name  of  his  host  or  guest. 


466  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

Dr.  Babcock's  personal  participation  in  the  life  of 
the  two  affiliated  churches  was  one  of  the  wonders  of 
his  ministry.  He  gave  to  them  not  only  his  interest, 
his  counsel,  his  direction,  but  personal  service.  He 
was  known  as  a  friend  by  the  people  in  the  congrega- 
tion and  by  the  children  in  the  Sunday-school.  Large 
as  his  own  parish  was,  he  found  time  and  strength  to 
carry  his  welcome  ministry  into  many  of  the  homes 
of  the  two  other  parishes,  whenever  there  was  special 
need  of  such  help  as  he  could  give.  The  Church  of  the 
Covenant  was  glad  to  remember  afterward  that  some 
of  her  young  men,  who  became  good  servants  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  were  moved  to  the  definite  consecration 
of  their  lives  by  Dr.  Babcock's  personal  influence.  * 

The  hopefulness  of  the  Christ  Church  work  was 
greatly  increased  when  in  January,  1901,  Mr.  Farr, 
until  then  assistant  minister  of  the  Brick  Church, 
accepted  the  Christ  Church  pastorate,  f  He  had 
himself  been  one  of  the  prime  movers,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  development  of  the  newer  activities  connected 
with  that  church,  while  his  relation  to  the  Brick 
Church  was  peculiarly  close,  and  the  confidence  of 
the  Brick  Church  officers  and  people  was  given  to 
him  without  reserve.  His  going,  it  is  true,  left  Dr. 
Babcock  alone,  but  Dr.  Babcock  was  one  of  those 
who  most  strongly  urged  him  to  take  up  the  larger 
work,  when  it  appeared  that  the  people  of  Christ 
Church  had  set  their  hearts  upon  calling  him.  With 
his  installation  began  a  new  era  of  prosperity  for  the 
whole  work  on  West  Thirty-fifth  Street,  and  the  ques- 
tion of  providing  the  new  buildings  seemed  to  be  de- 

*  "Year  Book,"  1901-1902,  p.  152. 

t  Mr.  Wightman  had  resigned  in  the  preceding  November. 


JAMES   M.   KARR 


A   GOLDEN  YEAR  467 

ferred  only  until  Dr.  Babcock  should  feel  that  the  first 
necessary  foundations  of  his  own  ministry  were  laid. 
The  other  most  important  beginning  made  during 
this  year  in  the  work  of  the  church  concerned  par- 
ticularly the  men  of  the  congregation.    In  November, 
1900,  "it  was  decided  that  the  Pastor's  Aid  Society, 
which  had  done  such  good  work  for  so  many  years, 
should  be  replaced  by  an  entirely  new  association 
with  similar  aims  but  with  broader  scope.     It  was 
voted  that  this  newly  formed  society  should  be  called 
*The  Men's  Association  of  the  Brick  Church,'  and 
a  regular  organization  was  effected."     In  itself  this 
statement  does  not  seem  very  significant,  but  behind 
it  were  two  facts  which  indicated  that  something  far 
more  than  a  new  *' organization"  had  been  created. 
First,  a  man  of  peculiar  ability  for  this  particular 
work  had  been  found  to  take  the  leadership,  Mr. 
Henry  L.  Smith,  who  still  holds  the  office  of  president, 
and  with  it  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the  many  men 
who  have  shared  in  the  work  of  the  Men's  Association 
since  the  time  of  its  origin.     And  second.  Dr.  Bab- 
cock gave,  without  stint,  his  help  to  make  the  enter- 
prise a  power  in  the  church.     He  was  always  the 
moving  spirit  of  its  meetings.     To  meet  him  there 
personally  was  enough  incentive  to  bring  a  roomful 
of  men  together,  and  besides  that,  he  always  had 
something  unusual,  inspiring,  characteristic,  to  say, 
or  to  propose  in  the  way  of  practical  Christian  work. 
At  these  meetings  men  were  made  to  feel  that  genuine 
Christianity  ought  to  be  a  force  in  the  world,  and  that 
they  themselves  might  help  to  make  it  so.  * 

*  Dr.  Babcock,  in  the  first  of  the  series  of  letters  to  be  mentioned  pres- 
ently, said  of  the  Men's  Association.  "  I  have  deeper  roots  there  than  you 


468  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

With  such  auspicious  beginnings  as  these  that  have 
been  described,  and  with  an  amount  of  blessing  and 
strength  imparted  to  individual  lives  which  it  would 
be  impossible  to  calculate,  the  first  year  of  Dr.  Bab- 
cock's  ministry  drew  to  its  close — the  first  year 
which  was  also  to  be  the  last.  We  have  the  record  of 
his  own  gratitude  and  hope,  as  he  stood  at  the  end  of 
it,  in  the  pastoral  letter,  published  according  to  cus- 
tom in  the  Year  Book,  and  called  by  him  "A  per- 
sonal message  from  the  pastor."  It  bore  the  date 
January  1st,  1901. 

"I  cannot  realize,"  he  says,  "that  it  has  been  only 
a  year  since  I  began  to  work  with  you,  so  many 
changes  have  come — changes  so  deep  and  prophetic 
— so  many  new  vistas  opened,  so  many  friendships 
begun.  It  seems  in  the  review  like  a  happy  little  life- 
time. The  year's  experiences  are  not  among  the 
things  behind  to  be  forgotten,  but  to  be  held  in  loving 
remembrance,  to  stir  us  and  spur  us  to  reach  fortTi 
to  things  that  are  before,  the  better  things,  please 
God,  yet  to  be.  Attainments  are  for  new  attempts, 
and  every  goal  should  be  a  point  of  departure. 
Every  blessing  is  a  call  of  God,  and  every  gift,  an 
appeal.  New  light  is  to  inspire  new  loyalty,  and 
mountain  peaks  to  give  wider  horizons.  'A  man's 
reach  should  exceed  his  grasp,  or  what's  Heaven 
for.?' 

"Oh,  let  his  goodness  lead  us  to  repentance!  Let 
a  grateful  review  mean  a  loving  rededication !  If  the 
mercies  of  God  have  blessedly  beset  us,  let  us  not 

think — for  no  organization  in  the  church  has  meant  so  much  to  me  in  the 
way  of  friendship,  nor  made  me  so  hopefully  aware  of  power — patent  and 
latent."    "  Letters  from  Egypt  and  Palestine,"  p.  2. 


A   GOLDEN  YEAR  469 

build  'Three  tabernacles,'  and  abide,  but  rather  like 
Paul,  thank  God  at  'Three  Taverns,'  and  take 
courage,  pushing  on  to  fight  a  better  fight,  and  keep 
the  faith  more  loyally. 

"Thoughts  of  the  New  Century  may  stir  us,  but 
such  thoughts  have  short  roots.  Let  us  look  over 
the  shoulder  of  Time  to  the  face  of  the  Eternal,  past 
the  years  to  him  who  is  '  the  same,  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,'  and  for  his  sake  let  us  make  this  the 
best  of  all  our  years." 

It  was  already  known  at  this  time  that  a  month 
and  a  half  later  Dr.  Babcock  was  going  away  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land 
with  a  party  of  old  friends  connected,  like  himself, 
with  Auburn  Seminary.  The  plan  had  been  formed 
before  he  was  called  from  Baltimore,  and  it  had  been 
arranged  that  his  coming  to  New  York  should  not 
interfere  with  it.  Perhaps  even  then  he  realized,  in 
some  measure,  how  great  the  need  of  rest  would  be 
after  a  year  in  his  new  work ;  and  certainly  the  wisest 
of  his  friends,  as  the  time  drew  near,  were  glad  for 
his  sake  that  he  was  going. 

On  February  24th,  1901,  he  set  sail,  and  the  very 
next  day  came  back  a  letter  from  him,  by  the  pilot, 
addressed  to  the  Men's  Association.  It  was  in  ful- 
filment of  a  promise  which  he  had  made,  to  send  a 
letter  now  and  then  to  be  read  at  the  meetings,  and 
which  he,  with  characteristic  generosity,  fulfilled  by 
sending,  not  "brief,  kindly  letters  of  remembrance, 
as  was  expected,"  but  a  record  of  his  entire  journey. 
Nor  did  the  men  of  the  church  receive  the  only  tokens 
of  his  remembrance.  From  Palestine  he  sent  cards 
of  pressed  flowers  of  the  Holy  Land  to  the  three 


470  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Sunday-schools,  fourteen  hundred  of  them,  one  for 
each  scholar  and  teacher  in  the  schools. 

News  arrived  in  due  course  of  the  prosperous  and 
delightful  sojourn  in  Egypt  and  in  Palestine,  includ- 
ing many  an  allusion  in  the  letters  of  Dr.  Babcock's 
companions  to  the  joy  of  travelling  with  him,  of 
sharing  his  love  of  life  and  his  love  of  men  and 
his  love  of  God.  From  Constantinople  he  himself 
WTote  speaking  of  his  expected  return  in  good  health 
before  the  end  of  May.  Then,  on  May  loth  came 
a  cable  message  from  Naples  telling  of  his  illness 
there.  He  had  been  attacked  by  gastric  fever,  that 
strange,  insidious  disease,  whose  effects  are  some- 
times as  incalculable  as  they  are  disastrous.  Three 
days  later  came  the  tragic  news  of  his  death. 

To  the  Brick  Church  the  shock  of  grief  and  loss 
was  indescribable.  But  it  seemed  as  though  the 
whole  city,  almost  the  whole  land,  shared  the  sorrow. 
Many,  like  the  people  of  the  Brown  Memorial 
Church  of  Baltimore,  had  stood  as  close  to  him  as  the 
Brick  Church  people  had,  and  thousands  who  had 
never  stood  close  to  him  in  any  formal  relation,  but 
who  had  found  in  him  comfort  or  courage,  the  help  of 
a  friend  and  of  a  messenger  from  God,  were  affected 
by  a  truly  personal  grief.  It  did  not  seem  possible 
that  he  who  had  given  life  to  so  many  could  be  dead. 

And  he  was  not.  Even  in  the  Brick  Church,  which 
seemed  bereft  indeed  without  his  visible  presence,  he 
was  a  continuing  power.  It  was  soon  evident  that 
for  those  whom  he  had  awakened  to  a  new  life  with 
God  and  a  new  life  for  men,  his  going  was  like  a 
challenge.  ^Miat  they  had  hoped  to  do  with  his  help, 
they  must  now  do  alone,  that  was  all. 


CLASSES   IN    BASKET-WEAVINt;   AND  CAIU'ENTHV,  rHlUST 
CIUKCH  HOrSE 


A   GOLDEN   YEAR  471 

Even  the  definite  undertakings  that  he  had  planned 
or  dreamed  were  not  to  fall  to  the  ground.  In  the 
memorial  service,  by  which  at  once  his  people  of  the 
Brick  Church  sought  to  honor  his  memory,  it  was 
grateful  to  them  to  speak  of  him,  to  tell  and  to  hear 
what  he  had  done  for  many  different  lives,  to  read 
the  last  of  those  letters  which  he  had  faithfully  writ- 
ten from  the  lands  of  his  travels.  But  the  part  of  that 
service  which  was  felt  to  be  really  worthy  of  it  was  the 
announcement  that  some  one — no  name  was  given, 
and  none  has  been  given  to  this  day — had  contributed 
$50,000  toward  that  extension  of  the  Christ  Church 
work  which  Dr.  Babcock  had  been  planning  to  un- 
dertake on  his  return.  * 

From  January  14th,  1900,  till  February  24th, 
1901,  was  the  length  of  Dr.  Babcock's  active  ministry 
in  the  Brick  Church.  It  hardly  seemed  possible  that 
a  man  could  have  made  himself  so  deeply  loved  or 
done  so  much  good  in  his  Master's  name  in  that  brief 
time.  The  officers  of  his  church,  coming  together 
to  express  as  best  they  could  their  sense  of  what 
he  had  been  to  them,  were  moved  by  the  strangeness 
of  this  thought,  and  by  the  pity  of  it,  but  most  of  all 
by  the  glory  of  it. 

"The  active  pastorate  of  Dr.  Babcock,"  they  said, 
"lasted  but  little  over  a  year.  He  came  to  us  under 
circumstances  strikingly  indicative  of  the  guidance  of 
the  good  hand  of  God.  He  was  the  unanimous 
choice  of  officers  and  people.  There  was  no  second 
choice,  nor  was  there  an  instant's  hesitation  as  to  his 
being  the  man  we  needed.    The  Presbytery  of  New 

*  The  funeral  was  held  in  the  Brick  Church  on  June  12th.  A  memorial 
tablet  was  erected  in  January,  1903. 


472  THE   BRICK   CHURCH 

York,  too,  was  so  convinced  that  Dr.  Babcock's 
great  heart  and  devoted  service  were  needed  in  this 
city,  that  they  adopted  the  unusual  course  of  ap- 
pointing a  committee  to  urge  upon  him  the  accept- 
ance of  our  call.  Even  then  his  coming  would  have 
been  wellnigh  impossible,  but  for  the  influence  of  the 
divine  Spirit  strengthening  him  to  sever  heart-ties 
stronger  than  bands  of  steel;  convincing  him  that 
sacred  duty  beckoned  him  away  from  all  the  asso- 
ciations of  an  ideal  home  and  devoted  people  and  a 
great  work  well  maintained,  to  come  among  strangers; 
to  enter  a  harder  field;  to  assume  heavier  responsi- 
bilities. .  .  . 

"He  came  to  us— a  man!  ' Greatheart,'  in  every 
sense!  Tall,  strong,  full  of  life,  with  an  eloquence 
all  his  own;  with  that  subtle  influence  we  call  'per- 
sonal magnetism,'  for  want  of  a  better  name.  He 
came  trusting  us,  and  holding  nothing  of  himself  in 
reserve — accepting  us  with  all  the  trust  and  sim- 
plicity of  a  child.  Although  he  went  in  and  out 
among  us  for  the  brief  space  of  a  single  year,  he  has 
left  an  indelible  mark  upon  the  church,  the  Presby- 
tery, and  the  city.  His  arduous  duties  were  performed 
with  supreme  devotion,  and,  withal,  so  systematically 
that  it  was  well  said  of  him  he  would  have  been  suc- 
cessful as  the  head  of  the  greatest  business  organiza- 
tion. 

"But  it  is  not  our  crowded  services  nor  the  mag- 
nificent successes,  with  even  greater  audiences,  at 
the  Ecumenical  Conference,  or  People's  Institute, 
that  most  clearly  marked  him  as  a  man  of  God  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  term.  These  count  for  much, 
and  many  have  been  the  souls  won  for  the  Master 


CLASSES  IX  KITCHEN  (;aK1)E\  AM)  COOKlNc;    CHRIST 
CHCHCH  HOUSE 


A   GOLDEN  YEAR  473 

without  more  personal  contact  than  the  divine  influ- 
ence emanating  from  his  pulpit  presence;  but  his 
greatest  work  has  been  upon  individual  lives,  to  whom 
he  has  ministered  in  season  and  out  of  season,  by 
day  and  by  night,  imparting  to  the  feeblest  some- 
thing of  his  own  vitality  and  faith,  demonstrating  by 
his  very  look  his  love  of  God  and  assured  trust  in 
him.   .  .  . 

"The  sense  of  our  loss  is  too  recent,  the  shock  of 
the  blow  too  great  for  measured  words.  We  can 
only  bow  before  the  insoluble  mystery  of  his  death 
at  forty-two,  in  the  midst  of  so  great  a  work  and  the 
greater  need  for  such  a  man  as  he.  But  we  can  at 
least  turn  away  in  humility  from  a  contemplation  of 
the  Providence  which  has  bereft  us,  and  with  one 
accord  unite  in  thanks  to  God  that  this  church  was 
permitted  to  have  such  leadership  and  we  such  a 
friendship  through  all  too  short  a  year.** 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PRESENT:  1902-1908 


"And  there  it  is  unto  this  day." — 1  Chronicles 5  :  9. 

"A  church  including  just  the  elements  that  have  been  united  in  this  congrega- 
tion, and  standing  on  the  crest  of  the  hill  here  in  the  centre  of  this  great  city — in 
the  whole  western  hemisphere  where  could  you  find  a  better  site  for  God's  house? 
.  .  .  There  may  be  sermons  in  bricks  as  well  as  'sermons  in  stones,'  and  our 
prayer  is  that  the  sermon  preached  here,  by  our  lives,  and  by  every  material  par- 
ticle of  this  structure,  may  be  always  the  true  evangel,  so  that,  of  the  endless  pro- 
cession moving  past  our  doors,  many,  when  they  look  upon  this  house  of  prayer, 
may  get  some  clearer  sense  of  the  divine  goodness  and  some  stronger  impulse  toward 
holiness  and  service." — William  R.  Richards,  Pastoral  Letter,  December,  1902. 


DR.  VAN  DYKE,  like  a  true  friend,  came 
back  to  the  church  in  her  time  of  need.  His 
old  parishioners,  feeling  that  for  a  time  it 
was  impossible  to  think  about  a  new  pastor,  grate- 
fully accepted  his  offer,  in  December,  1901,  to  serve 
them  as  minister-in-charge  until  such  time  as  they 
should  secure  a  successor  to  Dr.  Babcock,  and  to 
aid  them  in  that  undertaking  by  his  counsel  and 
influence.  * 

Under  his  guidance,  strengthened  by  his  familiar 
presence,  by  his  example  of  loyalty  to  the  church,  by 
the  inspiration  of  his  preaching,  strong  as  of  old, 
and  by  the  evidence,  soon  supplied,  that  the  church 
was  in  no  danger  of  falling  to  pieces,  the  first  feeling 

*  Dr.  van  Dyke's  duties  at  Princeton  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
preach  at  the  second  service  on  Sunday  or  at  the  mid-week  meetings,  or 
to  perform  the  routine  duties  of  a  pastor.  He  was  therefore  authorized 
to  employ  an  assistant.  The  Rev.  Shepherd  Knapp  served  him  in  that 
capacity,  and  continued  under  the  new  pastor  until  1908. 

474 


THE   CHURCH   OF   THE   PRESENT   475 

of  depression  and  discouragement  was  gradually 
dispersed.  *  The  finding  of  a  new  pastor  was  taken 
up  in  earnest,  and  before  long  the  church  came  to 
the  assurance  that  it  had  found  him. 

But  would  he  come.^  It  was  a  repetition  of  the 
situation  in  regard  to  Dr.  Babcock  in  Baltimore. 
The  Rev.  William  Rogers  Richards,  D.D.,  had  been 
for  eighteen  years  pastor  of  the  Crescent  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Plainfield,  New  Jersey,  and 
rarely  have  the  members  of  a  congregation  had  such 
a  deep  and  universal  attachment  for  their  pastor  as 
that  which  bound  the  Plainfield  people  to  Dr.  Rich- 
ards. They  loved  him  as  a  man.  His  preaching  sat- 
isfied them  like  bread.  He  was  a  true  part  of  their 
whole  life,  civic  and  social  as  well  as  philanthropic 
and  religious,  f  Only  in  answer  to  a  call  of  supreme 
importance  would  they  hear  for  a  moment  of  his 
leaving  them,  and  his  refusal  again  and  again  to  con- 
sider calls  to  churches  in  New  York  and  elsewhere 
had  given  his  people  ground  for  hope  that  the  im- 

*  It  was  during  his  term  of  service  as  minister-in-charge  that  Dr.  van 
Dyke  was  elected  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly,  held  in  New  York 
in  the  spring  of  1902,  and  in  that  capacity  contributed  largely  to  the  suc- 
cessful revision  of  the  Westminster  Confession  which  was  carried  at  that 
time. 

t  In  the  "Brick  Church  Year  Book  "  for  1902-1903,  was  quoted  the  fol- 
lowing estimate  of  the  character  of  Dr.  Richards  and  his  work  in  Plainfield, 
by  one  who  had  known  him  for  many  years :  "  I  consider  his  chief  charac- 
teristics to  be  great  intellectual  power,  stimulated  by  wide  reading  and 
study,  and  the  ability  to  think  clearly  and  closely,  and  to  express  himself 
in  striking  and  appropriate  English.  Dr.  Richards  is  by  nature  modest 
and  retiring,  but  when  intimately  known  he  is  found  to  be  warm-hearted, 
sympathetic,  and  generous  to  a  fault.  He  is  not  only  a  minister  of  the 
gospel,  but  a  good  citizen,  interested  in  all  questions  of  a  public  nature. 
It  was  his  custom  at  Plainfield  always  to  attend  and  take  an  active  part 
in  the  primaries  of  his  party.  He  was  for  some  years  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  Plainfield,  rendering  good  service,  and  is  now  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 


476  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

perative  summons,  which  both  he  and   they  must 
answer,  would  not  come. 

In  May,  1902,  came  the  call  from  the  Brick  Church, 
and  with  it  the  following  personal  letter  from  Dr. 
van  Dyke  to  Dr.  Richards,  which  was,  however,  as 
will  be  evident,  addressed  as  much  to  the  people  as  to 
their  minister.  "  The  meeting  last  night,"  Dr.  van  Dyke 
said,  "was  large,  enthusiastic,  and  absolutely  unani- 
mous in  calling  you  to  the  Brick  Church.  There  is 
no  doubt  in  any  mind  that  you  are  the  man  for  the 
place,  and  no  hesitation  in  any  heart  about  asking 
you  to  come.  We  know  the  value  of  your  present 
work,  the  mutual  attachment  between  you  and  the 
Plainfield  Church,  the  many  ties  of  love  that  hold 
you  where  you  are.  The  tie  by  which  we  would 
draw  you  to  New  York  is  the  tie  of  duty — clear  and 
strong.  The  cause  of  Christ  needs  you  here.  The 
strongest  Presbyterian  church  in  America,  standing 
in  the  great  city  where  its  influence  is  most  needed, 
asks  you  to  come  to  it  and  lead  it  forward.  The  call 
is  affectionately  and  respectfully  addressed  to  the 
Crescent  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  as  well  as  to 
you.  We  do  not  imagine  that  your  people  can  think 
of  giving  you  up  without  great  sorrow,  but  we  want 
you,  if  it  can  be  so  brought  about  by  the  Spirit  of 
Wisdom  and  Love.  .  .  .  Our  prayer  is  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  may  guide  you  in  the  decision  of  this 
matter  and  my  hope  is  that  the  appeal  of  duty  may 
lead  you  to  us." 

On  the  very  Sunday  when  this  letter  was  laid  before 
the  Plainfield  congregation,  Dr.  Richards  preached 
a  sermon  upon  Moses'  two  calls  to  Hobab.  "You 
see,"  said  he,  "Moses  first  urges  Hobab  to  come  with 


THE   CHURCH   OF  THE  PRESENT   477 

Israel  for  Hobab's  own  sake:  'Come  thou  with  us 
and  we  will  do  thee  good ' ;  to  which  Hobab  answers, 
'No.'  And  then  Moses  urges  him  to  go  for  Israel's 
sake:  'Come  to  us,'  he  says,  'we  need  you,'  .  .  . 
and  it  appears  that  he  accepted  this  second  invita- 
tion." The  sermon  as  it  went  on,  was  applied  to  the 
call  of  men  into  Christian  discipleship,  but  its  bear- 
ing upon  the  special  problem  in  practical  Christian- 
ity, which  pastor  and  people  were  then  together  fac- 
ing, was  evident.  *  On  neither  side  was  it  at  that 
time  determined  what  the  answer  to  the  call  of  the 
Brick  Church  ought  to  be,  but  the  principle  by  which 
the  decision  was  to  be  reached  was  here  clearly  set 
forth,  and  it  was  adopted  without  hesitation  by  both 
Dr.  Richards  and  his  parishioners.  The  call  was  ac- 
cepted. 

On  October  26th,  1902,  Dr.  Richards  was  in- 
stalled. Dr.  van  Dyke,  whose  service  of  the  Brick 
Church  might  now  be  said  to  have  been  extended 
to  nearly  twenty  years,  handed  to  the  new  pastor  the 
keys  of  the  church,  and  the  people  thanked  God  for 
his  mercies  in  bringing  them  across  the  troubled  sea 
of  the  last  year  to  this  desired  haven. 

In  certain  interesting  particulars.  Dr.  Richards' 
preparation  had  resembled  that  of  two  of  his  prede- 
cessors. Like  Dr.  Spring  he  was  of  strong  New  Eng- 
land ancestry,  and  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  f 
Like  him  he  had  been  educated  at  Yale  and  Andover, 
and  had  then  studied  for  the  law.     He  resembled 


*  The  sermon  and  Dr.  van  Dyke's  letter  were  both  printed  in  the 
"Brooklyn  Eagle." 

t  In  1853  in  Boston,  where  his  father  was  pastor  of  the  Central  Con- 
gregational Church. 


478  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

him,  moreover,  in  his  irenic  spirit  combined  with  a 
strong  sense  of  the  historic  continuity  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  At  the  same  time  he  was  known  to  be  in 
cordial  sympathy  with  the  modern  movements  of 
thought.  It  was  evident  that  he  was  one  who  would 
make  for  peace  and  the  generous  cooperation  of  dif- 
ferent types  of  men,  and  therefore  for  the  steady  and 
solid  progress  which  these  conditions  render  possible.* 
Like  Dr.  van  Dyke,  on  the  other  hand,  his  first  pas- 
torate had  been  in  a  Congregational  church  ;t  and, 
like  him,  he  had  become  one  of  the  most  popular 
preachers  in  the  various  college  pulpits  of  the  Eastern 
States.  The  undergraduates  looked  forward  to  his 
coming  because  he  understood  them — shared  their 
enthusiasm  for  athletics,  for  one  thing — and  be- 
cause his  sermons  were  interesting,  and  perhaps  most 
of  all,  for  the  reason  that  he  invariably  used  his 
power  and  his  opportunity  to  speak  to  them  of  the 
things  that  are  most  worth  while.  He  was  able,  not 
only  to  hold  the  attention  of  college  boys,  but  to  ex- 
ert a  real  moral  and  religious  influence  upon  them. 
To  the  people  of  the  Brick  Church  there  was  a  pleas- 
ant familiarity  in  such  qualities  as  these. 

But  not  many  Sundays  had  passed  before  the  con- 
gregation made  an  interesting  discovery,  by  which 
Dr.  Richards*  unlikeness  to  what  had  gone  before 
began  to  seem  as  important  as  his  likeness  to  it. 
They  discovered  that  there  are  at  least  three  ways  of 
preaching  great  sermons.     They  had  known  before 

*  These  qualities  were  to  prove  especially  valuable  in  his  most  arduous 
and  important  service  as  moderator  of  the  New  York  Presbytery  at  a  criti- 
cal period  of  its  history. 

t  In  Bath,  Maine,  where  he  was  minister  from  October,  1879,  to  June, 
1884. 


WILLIAM    i;.    IMCIIAKI).- 


THE   CHURCH   OF  THE  PRESENT   479 

that  there  were  two  ways.  They  were  familiar  with 
what  they  would  have  called  "Dr.  van  Dyke's  way" 
and  "Dr.  Babcock's  way,"  and  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, they  had  been  wondering  which  of  these 
two  ways  Dr.  Richards  would  follow.  But  he  fol- 
lowed neither.  He  had  a  way  of  his  own.  He  had 
a  singular  skill — all  the  more  singular  for  its  quiet 
simplicity — in  drawing  a  truth  out  of  the  old,  famil- 
iar words  of  Scripture,  into  the  light  of  present 
reality,  and  then  unfolding  it  slowly  to  the  mind  of 
his  hearers  as  the  heat  of  the  sun  slowly  unfolds  a 
flower. 

The  first  effect  was  an  absorbing  intellectual  inter- 
est; but  before  the  hearer  was  well  aware,  he  found 
that  through  the  opened  door  of  his  mind  the  truth 
had  entered  in  and  laid  hold  upon  his  will.  He  had 
reached  out  to  grasp  it  as  a  truth  and  found  himself 
gripped  by  it  as  a  duty.  The  applications  of  the 
sermon's  principle  to  the  concerns  of  daily  life  and  to 
the  vital  problems  of  the  time  were  so  varied,  so  apt, 
so  unescapable,  and  withal  so  simple  and  direct,  and 
of  such  practical  significance,  that  the  message  of 
Sunday  became  at  once  the  guide  of  week-day  living. 
It  was  found  that  Dr.  Richards,  by  his  quiet,  orderly, 
and  concrete  method  of  exposition,  had  the  rare 
power  to  show  that  the  most  spiritual  truth  is  at  the 
same  time  the  most  practical;  and  this  power  per- 
haps was  in  no  way  more  strikingly  evidenced  than 
by  the  fact  that,  though  he  was  recognized  as  a  dis- 
tinctly intellectual  preacher,  yet  more  than  once  it 
happened,  as  it  had  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Babcock,  that 
families  were  drawn  into  permanent  relation  to  the 
church  because  the  young  people  of  the  household 


480  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

had  expressed  unusual  interest  in  Dr.  Richards' 
sermons.  * 

In  the  organization  of  the  church's  activities,  the 
coming  of  the  new  pastor  was  speedily  followed  by 
several  interesting  and  significant  developments.  It 
was  felt  that  conditions  then  existing  in  the  church 
itself  would  warrant,  and  the  needs  of  the  neighbor- 
hood demanded,  a  larger  use  of  the  church  as  a  place 
of  worship,  that  therefore  its  doors  should  no  longer 
be  closed  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  simply 
because  no  service  happened  to  be  in  progress,  and, 
moreover,  that  the  number  of  the  services  themselves 
should  be  increased. 

The  ideal  of  an  ever-open  door.  Dr.  Richards 
urged,  is  one  that  "any  Christian  church  may  well 
try  to  realize — especially  a  church  like  this,  that  is 
set  on  a  hill  and  beside  a  main  thoroughfare  of  the 
city."  When  these  words  were  written  in  December, 
1903,  the  plan  which  it  proposed  was  already  in  oper- 
ation. There  had  also  been  inaugurated  two  new 
services,  and  Dr.  Richards'  comments  upon  these 
ought  also  to  be  quoted.  *' Repeated  requests,"  he 
said,  "had  reached  us  for  the  appointment  of  a  ser- 
vice on  some  week-day  afternoon,  and  the  quiet  con- 
gregations that  have  assembled  for  some  weeks  past 
every  Friday  at  twilight  give  evidence  that  such  a 
service  meets  a  spiritual  need  of  the  community. 

"On  the  Lord's  day  especially,"  Dr.  Richards 
continued,  "we  should  wish  that  our  room  might  be 
filled  as  often  as  possible  with  successive  congrega- 
tions of  different  worshippers,   thus  ministering  to 

*  In  the  report  to  Presbytery  on  April  1st,  1906,  the  membership  of 
the  church  for  the  first  time  exceeded  1,000. 


THE   CHURCH   OF  THE  PRESENT   481 

two  or  three  times  as  many  persons  as  the  walls 
would  hold  at  a  single  service.  Accordingly,  in  addi- 
tion to  our  usual  services  of  the  morning  and  after- 
noon, we  recently  announced  another  for  the  evening. 
Some  of  our  friends,  in  view  of  the  well-known  diflS- 
culty  of  gathering  a  second  Sunday  congregation, 
treated  the  proposal  of  a  third  as  somewhat  audacious. 
That  was  the  intention.  But  we  think  that  the  policy 
of  advancing  upon  the  enemy  in  the  hallowing  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  however  audacious,  may  be  pleasanter, 
and  in  the  long  run  safer,  than  any  policy  of  contin- 
uous retreat."  * 

One  purpose  in  this  freer  use  of  the  church  had 
been  to  reach,  not  only  more  people,  but  more  sorts 
of  people.  This  was,  indeed,  an  ideal  that  was  mak- 
ing its  presence  increasingly  felt  in  the  church,  both 
within  the  bounds  of  its  own  particular  work  and  in 
its  sharing  of  the  labors  of  the  affiliated  churches. 
The  open  church  and  the  new  services  were  but  sam- 
ples of  a  more  general  effort  to  make  the  ideal  a 
reality,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  some  measure 
of  success  could  soon  be  recorded.  Speaking  in 
April,  1904,  Dr.  Richards  said:  "We  have  been 
much  cheered  to  learn  from  a  good  many  friendly 
testimonies  that  these  efforts  are  bearing  some  fruit ; 
that  many  sorts  of  tired  men  and  women  passing  our 
door,  even  when  no  service  was  going  on,  seeing  the 
door  hospitably  open,  have  ventured  in,  and  have 
found  great  comfort  in  this  place  of  rest  and  prayer; 
that  at  our  public  services,  and  especially  on  Sunday 
evenings,  a  good  many  persons  who  had  long  been 
far  from  any  sort  of  church  connection,  happening 

*  "Year  Book,"  1903-1904,  pp.  5  /. 


482  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

in  here,  have  felt  themselves  at  home — have  felt  that 
they  were  made  one  with  the  people  of  God.  Oh, 
I  wish  this  house  might  be  a  house  of  prayer  for  all — 
all  nations,  all  conditions,  all  opinions;  a  true  sanct- 
uary of  the  peace  of  God;  where,  if  ever,  a  Greek 
Christian  and  a  Roman  Christi<an  happened  to  find 
themselves  in  the  same  pew,  forgetting  their  age-long 
quarrel,  they  would  remember  only  that  they  are  fel- 
low-disciples; where  a  Jew  and  a  Samaritan  might 
comfortably  look  over  the  same  hymn  book;  or  a 
Russian  and  a  Japanese;  or  a  bank  director  and  the 
president  of  a  labor  union;  or  a  college  professor 
and  a  socialist;  or  a  shop  girl  and  her  customer;  or 
a  master  and  his  servant;  or  any  two  neighbors  who 
for  the  last  dozen  years  had  passed  without  speaking 
on  the  street — here  in  this  sanctuary  all  their  old 
differences  and  grievances  and  misunderstandings 
forgotten — so  completely  forgotten  that  they  cojild 
not  recall  them  when  they  went  out." 

The  helpfulness  of  these  new  services,  and  no  less 
of  those  that  were  not  new,  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  character  of  the  music  that  the  church  was  re- 
joicing in  at  this  time.  It  was,  in  a  way,  a  legacy 
from  Dr.  Babcock,  for  he  had  proposed  the  calling 
of  Mr.  Archer  Gibson,  then  in  Baltimore,  to  the  office 
of  organist  and  choir-master ;  but  he  had  already  de- 
parted on  his  journey  to  Palestine  when  Mr.  Gibson 
began  his  work  in  the  Brick  Church.  Such  music  as 
the  new  organist  produced  from  his  choir  of  soloists 
and  chorus  had  never  been  heard  in  the  Brick 
Church  before,  music  notable  for  its  spirit  of  wor- 
ship even  more  than  for  its  beauty  of  sound.  The 
Brick  Church  organ,  remarkable  for  its  quality  of 


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<  iioii;  i;i;m;Ai;s Ai,  ai    riii:  cm  itcii  m    the  conknani' 


THE   CHURCH   OF   THE   PRESENT   483 

sweetness  and  its  mellowness  of  tone,  *  had  never 
been  played  as  Mr.  Gibson  played  it.  No  better 
time  could  have  been  chosen  for  a  multiplication  of 
the  Brick  Church  services,  or  for  the  exerting  through 
them  of  a  wider  Christian  influence  upon  the  New 
York  public,  than  the  time  when  the  church  could 
offer  this  noble  ministry  of  music. 

The  activities  of  this  period  which  thus  far  have 
been  referred  to,  concerned  chiefly  the  men  and 
women;  but  the  church  was  far  from  forgetting  the 
boys  and  girls.  On  the  contrary,  taking  the  church's 
work  as  a  whole,  the  part  of  it  which  related  to  the 
children  was  distinctly  predominant. 

In  the  first  place,  the  church's  own  Sunday-school 
made  a  distinct  advance,  under  the  leadership  first 
of  Mr.  Alfred  E.  Marling  and  then  of  Dr.  William 
V.  V.  Hayes.  That  it  should  be  a  large  school  is  not 
possible,  because  it  is  situated  in  a  neighborhood 
where  the  number  of  children  is  decidedly  limited; 
but  by  patient  and  devoted  work  it  has  at  least  been 
made  to  cover  successfully  the  restricted  field,  while 
in  its  method  of  teaching  and  in  its  plan  of  study  it 
has  been  distinctly  improved. 

The  aflSliated  Church  of  the  Covenant  offers  a 
very  much  larger  field  for  work  among  the  children, 
and  it  has  been  cultivated  with  a  success  propor- 
tionately great.  The  ingenuity  of  Dr.  f  Webster  and 
of  his  helpers,  especially  Mr.  Cady  and  Dr.  Kimball 
of  the  Sunday-school,  in  arousing  and  holding  the 
children's  interest,  and  the  response  of  the  children 

*  It  was  greatly  improved  in  detail  by  Mr.  Gibson  himself, 
t  He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Hamilton  College 
in  June,  1902. 


484  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

both  in  numbers  and  in  character-development,  have 
together  produced  as  pleasant  a  chapter  of  church 
history  as  could  anywhere  be  found.  There  is  no  dan- 
ger that  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  will  ever  die  out 
at  the  bottom ;  and  the  sight  of  the  pews  full  of  chil- 
dren at  a  Covenant  Sunday-morning  service,  or  the 
sound  of  their  singing,  especially  at  the  wonderful 
festivals  at  Christmas  and  at  Easter,  are  not  only  a 
promise  for  the  future,  when  these  children  shall  have 
grown  up  and  taken  their  place  in  the  active  work  of 
the  church;  they  are  also  an  inspiration  for  to-day. 
The  men  and  women  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant 
get  their  sermons  from  two  sources,  from  the  lips  of 
their  beloved  pastor  and  from  the  faces  of  their  own 
children,  who  under  the  church's  influence  are  al- 
ready unconscious  carriers  of  the  sweet  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  Christ  Church,  also,  these  recent  years  may  be 
called  the  age  of  the  children,  *  the  age  of  clubs  for 
girls  and  clubs  for  boys,  of  sewing-school  and  kinder- 
garten, of  winter  sports  and  summer  outings,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  great  Sunday-school,  which  in  1907, 
celebrated  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  f 

*  Among  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  enlargement  and  increased 
efficiency  of  this  part  of  the  work,  one  volunteer  worker,  whose  name  haa 
not  yet  been  mentioned  in  this  history,  must  here  be  gratefully  recorded. 
No  one  has  been  a  truer  friend  to  the  Christ  Church  children  (or  to  their 
mothers,  either,  for  that  matter)  than  this  resourceful,  untiring,  modest 
worker.  Miss  Mary  Stewart. 

t  Mr.  Herbert  Parsons,  who  had  become  superintendent  in  1897,  and 
who  held  that  office  till  1905,  when  his  public  duties  required  his  presence 
in  Washington  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  brought  the  school  to 
a  very  high  degree  of  efficiency.  The  system  of  regular  examinations 
which  he  perfected,  introduced  a  new  standard  of  excellence  in  Bible 
study.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  William  S.  Coffin,  under  whom  the 
school  still  advances,  meeting  with  enthusiasm  and  success  the  enlarging 


CHILDREN'ri   KOOM    AND   KITCHEN.  CHRIriT  CHURCH 
MEMORIAL   HOUSE 


THE   CHURCH   OF   THE   PRESENT   485 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  movement, 
begun  in  the  year  of  Dr.  Babcock's  ministry,  and  set 
a  long  way  forward  by  the  memorial  gift  of  $50,000 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  to  provide  new  buildings  for 
all  this  work  which  had  grown  up  in  connection  with 
Christ  Church.  To  this  movement  Dr.  Richards 
gave  his  hearty  support.  The  attainment  of  the  goal 
toward  which  it  moved  was  to  be  the  chief  event  of 
the  early  years  of  his  pastorate. 

At  his  suggestion,  a  number  of  informal  conferences 
were  held  in  the  winter  of  1902-1903,  and  the  whole 
subject  thoroughly  discussed.  It  so  happened  that 
real-estate  conditions  in  the  neighborhood  of  West 
Thirty-fifth  Street  had  resulted  in  a  large  increase  in 
the  value  of  the  Christ  Church  property.  In  view  of 
the  opportunity  thus  opened,  it  was  deemed  advisable 
to  sell,  and  with  the  proceeds  buy  a  site  more  central 
to  the  Christ  Church  congregation,  that  is,  at  a  point 
slightly  further  north  and  west,  where  the  lower 
prices  would  also  make  it  possible  to  secure  a  lot  of 
larger  size. 

At  a  meeting  held  at  the  parsonage  on  April  23d, 
so  favorable  a  sentiment  w^as  aroused  that  almost 
$25,000  was  contributed  on  the  spot,  and  before  the 
season  ended,  including  the  original  memorial  gift, 
over  $100,000  was  in  hand.  With  this  sum  the 
trustees  were  enabled  to  purchase  an  excellent  lot, 
with  a  frontage  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet, 

opportunity.  The  large  intermediate  department  maintains  its  old  record 
of  success  under  that  staunch  supporter  of  the  Brick  Church,  universally 
beloved,  Mr.  William  D.  Barbour,  assisted  by  his  brother,  Mr.  Norman 
Barbour,  among  others.  Miss  Ziesse  and  Miss  Stewart,  with  admirable 
skill  and  patience,  take  care  of  the  swarms  of  smallest  children,  almost 
babies,  in  the  primary. 


486  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

on  West  Thirty-sixth  Street  between  Eighth  and 
Ninth  avenues. 

In  November,  1903,  the  general  scheme  for  the 
new  buildings  was  adopted.  *  Ground  was  broken  in 
the  middle  of  the  following  June,  and  on  October 
26th,  the  second  anniversary  of  Dr.  Richards'  in- 
stallation, the  corner-stone  was  laid.  "The  weather 
was  favorable,  and  a  large  audience  of  ticket-holders 
was  admitted  to  the  first  floor  of  the  building 
which  had  been  boarded  over  for  the  occasion.  A 
large  space  at  the  west  end  of  the  building  was  re- 
served for  the  children  of  Christ  Church  Sunday- 
school,  who  marched  in  procession  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred strong  from  the  old  building  to  the  new.  Not 
the  least  interesting  part  of  the  audience,  however, 
was  composed  of  those  who,  having  no  admission 
tickets,  crowded  the  windows  and  even  the  roofs  of 
the  tall  tenements  on  every  hand.  Every  point  of 
vantage  was  occupied;  the  workmen  sat  upon  the 
beams  rising  for  the  second  story  of  the  parish  house 
in  the  rear,  and  the  side  windows  of  the  adjoining 
tenements,  usually  so  cheerless  of  outlook,  were  upon 
this  occasion  much  sought  for  the  sake  of  the  view."  f 
It  was  an  appropriate  and  auspicious  inauguration 
for  a  work  whose  purpose  was  to  bring  interest  and 
cheer  and  every  sort  of  uplift  to  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood. 

Meantime  more  money  for  the  undertaking  was 
coming  in — $30,000,  for  example,  at  a  single  meet- 
ing of  the  men  of  the  church. 

In  the  fall  of  1905  the  buildings  were  completed, 

*  The  architects  being  Messrs.  Parish  &  Schroeder, 
t  "Year  Book,"  1904-1905,  pp.  167f. 


THE   CHURCH  OF  THE  PRESENT   487 

and  on  October  27th  they  were  formally  opened  and 
two  days  later  the  church  was  dedicated.  The  entire 
group  of  buildings  was  designed  to  be  memorial  in 
its  character.  The  church  commemorated  "the 
loving  and  faithful  service  of  Henry  van  Dyke."  It 
is  a  Gothic  structure,  presenting  its  side  to  the 
street,  and  forms  architecturally  the  dominant  feature 
of  the  group  of  buildings.  Within,  it  is  dignified  and 
churchly — all  the  details  being  in  excellent  taste. 
No  church  of  its  size  in  the  city  is  more  attractive. 

The  church  house  both  perpetuated  the  gift  of  its 
predecessor  in  memory  of  Randolph  McAlpin  and 
also  became  a  memorial  to  Dr.  Babcock.  It  was 
necessarily  much  larger  than  the  church,  but  the 
greater  part  of  it  was  skilfully  placed  in  the  rear  of 
the  lot,  where  the  high  church  roof  completely  con- 
cealed it  from  the  street.  It  contained  everything 
that  Christ  Church  workers  had  been  longing  for 
and  dreaming  of  for  many  a  year.  First  of  all,  of 
course,  there  was  a  great  Sunday-school  room,  where 
the  work,  out  of  which  the  whole  organization  had 
grown,  might  be  continued  on  a  still  larger  scale. 
Above,  below,  and  around  this  central  auditorium 
were  placed  bowling  alleys,  pool-room,  library, 
gymnasium,  workshop,  kitchen,  oflSces,  rooms  for 
church  work,  for  kindergarten  and  for  clubs  and 
classes  of  various  sorts,  together  w^itli  living  quarters 
for  the  janitor  and  the  workers.  * 

*  It  may  be  noted  at  this  point  that  while  this  larger  enterprise  was  in 
hand,  the  Brick  Church  had  also  made  some  minor  improvements  in  her 
own  building.  In  the  fall  of  1903,  by  a  shifting  of  the  stairs  and  the  addi- 
tion of  a  mezzanine  in  the  "chapel"  in  the  rear  of  the  church,  four  new 
rooms  and  a  large  amount  of  closet-room  were  added,  and  the  whole 
arrangement  greatly  improved.    The  lecture-room  also  was  redecorated. 


488  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

Every  room  in  the  building  meant  the  meeting  of 
a  definite  need  whose  reality  had  been  amply  tested 
by  experience  in  the  old  quarters.  There  was  noth- 
ing theoretical  about  it  from  cellar  to  roof;  and  no 
sooner  had  the  transfer  been  made  from  the  old 
building  to  the  new,  than  the  enormous  benefits  of 
the  change  began  to  manifest  themselves.  *  The 
work  commenced  to  expand  at  once;  the  neigh- 
borhood responded  fully  to  the  opportunity;  and 
during  the  two  and  a  half  years  that  have  passed 
since  the  building  was  opened  for  use,  old  enterprises 
have  enlarged  their  scope  and  new  activities  f  have 
sprung  up,  until  every  room  is  occupied  for  one  pur- 
pose or  another  almost  the  whole  week  through. 
There  is  no  busier,  cheerier,  more  inspiring  place  in 
the  whole  city. 

And  it  was  entirely  paid  for  in  a  remarkably  short 
space  of  time.  By  the  sale  of  the  old  site  and  the 
continuance  of  contributions,  the  whole  sum  ex- 
pended had  been  received,  and  the  last  dollar  paid, 
in  the  early  summer  of  1907.  The  total  cost  of  land, 
buildings,  and  equipment  was  $382,097.24. J 

A  single  event  remains  to  be  added  to  this  brief 
sketch  of  the  activities  of  the  present  pastorate.    On 

*  With  the  occupation  of  the  new  building  a  more  complete  unification 
of  the  work  at  Christ  Church,  than  had  heretofore  been  possible,  was 
achieved,  with  great  gain  in  economy  and  efficiency.  See  "  Rules  of  Gov- 
ernment," Appendix  Y,  page  548. 

fMost  interesting,  perhaps,  among  the  new  activities,  has  been  the 
"Tuberculosis  Class,"  organized  in  November,  1906,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  to  a  small  group  of  sufferers  the  same  sort  of  treatment  in  their 
homes  that  they  would  receive  in  special  sanitariums.  The  work  has  been 
carried  on  by  the  devoted  volunteer  service  of  Dr.  Walter  L.  Niles  and 
Miss  F.  V.  Stewart,  and  its  results  have  already  proved  the  great  practical 
value  of  the  plan. 

J  Of  this  amount  $253,397.24  was  met  by  subscription. 


THE   CHURCH   OF  THE   PRESENT   489 

January  22d,  1908,  the  Brick  Church  lost  by  death 
one  of  her  strongest  friends,  one  of  her  truest  Chris- 
tians, Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup.  Among  the  almost  in- 
credible number  of  public  interests  in  which  he  had 
actively  shared,  and  to  which  he  had  given  generously 
in  money  and  personal  service,  the  Brick  Church 
held  a  prominent  place.  He  had  served  on  her  board 
of  trustees,  and  in  much  of  her  good  work  in  recent 
years  he  had  taken  a  leading  part.  When  his  will 
was  read,  it  was  found  that  he  had  bequeathed  to  the 
Brick  Church  the  sum  of  $100,000,  as  an  addition  to 
its  endowment  fund,  with  the  provision,  however, 
that  if  the  church  should  at  any  time  remove  from 
its  present  location,  the  money  should  revert  to  his 
estate.  In  his  lifetime  he  had  strongly  counselled  the 
turnine:  of  a  deaf  ear  to  all  offers  for  the  Fifth  Avenue 
property.  He  believed  that  the  church  was  needed 
where  it  was,  and  that  it  should  be  anchored  there 
forever.  Even  if  in  the  future  the  residences  should 
all  be  driven  northward  and  the  Brick  Church 
stand,  as  old  Trinity  does  to-day,  in  a  region  given 
over  wholly  to  business,  there  she  ought  still  to  stand, 
he  thought;  and  in  this  his  fellow-officers  of  the 
church  heartily  agreed  with  him.  One  of  them  said, 
on  hearing  of  Mr.  Jesup's  generous  bequest — and 
he  probably  expressed  the  thought  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation— "The  condition  of  the  gift  is  as  welcome 
as  the  gift  itself."  If  God  will,  may  the  Brick 
Church  stand  to  serve  him  on  the  brow  of  Murray  Hill 
as  long  as  New  York  City  occupies  Manhattan  Island. 

Seventeen    hundred    and    sixty-seven    to   nineteen 
hundred    and    eight — one    hundred    and    forty-one 


490  THE   BRICK  CHURCH 

years:  it  is,  after  all,  but  a  short  space  of  time,  and 
what  changes  have  been  packed  into  it!  At  the  be- 
ginning we  saw  the  New  Church  erected  on  Beek- 
man  Street,  on  the  northern  edge  of  the  city  that 
then  existed.  To-day  the  present  Brick  Church, 
more  than  three  miles  farther  north,  is  already  grap- 
pling with  the  problems  of  a  downtown  situation. 

These  transformations  in  the  outward  surround- 
ings are  most  interesting  to  observe,  but  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  volume  they  are  far  less  interesting  than 
the  transformation  that  has  gone  on  within  the 
church  itself.  If  the  question  be  asked — as  it  some- 
times is,  and  with  a  tone  that  seems  to  call  for  a  nega- 
tive reply — Is  the  Church  of  Christ  alive  ?  Is  it 
something  more  than  a  venerable  monument  ?  Does 
it  maintain  a  true  relation  to  the  needs  of  successive 
generations  of  men,  and  is  it  capable  of  adapting  its 
message  and  its  ministry  to  the  changed,  and  still 
changing,  conditions  of  modern  life.''  In  particular, 
is  the  Church  of  Christ  able  so  to  enlarge  its  scope  as 
to  meet  the  tremendous  social  needs  of  our  own  day, 
and  to  become  no  longer  a  mere  place  of  refuge  for 
believers,  but  a  head-quarters  for  apostles,  from 
which  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ,  incarnated  in  Chris- 
tian men  and  women,  shall  go  out  to  the  relief  of 
every  kind  of  need,  the  righting  of  every  kind  of 
wrong,  the  supplying  of  every  kind  of  good  ? — if  this 
question  be  asked,  the  facts  of  history  related  in  this 
volume  would  seem  to  have  some  claim  to  make  an 
affirmative  and  encouraging  reply. 

Less  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago  there  was  on 
Beekman  Street  a  congregation  of  godly  men  and 
women  who,  in  living  up  to  the  light  of  their  day,  did 


THE   CHURCH  OF  THE  PRESENT   491 

produce  a  church  whose  interests  centred  chiefly  in 
itself,  in  the  maintaining  of  its  own  worship,  tlie  in- 
struction   and   training   of   its   own   membership,  in 
short,  the  honoring    of    God  and   the   following  of 
Christ   almost   entirely   within   its   own   boundaries. 
Worship   and   preaching,   the   administering   of  the 
sacraments,  parish  visitation  and  the  supervision  of 
the  morals  of  its  members,  the  taking  up  of  a  collec- 
tion  at  the   Sunday   service— "one  copper   and   no 
more,"  given  alike  by  each  member  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  used  almost  exclusively  for  the  church's 
own  poor:  such  was  the  work  of  the  church  of  1767. 
Compare  with  this  the  Brick  Church  of  to-day, 
and  see  what  changes  have  been   wrought  by  the 
spirit  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  its  five  generations  of 
members,  in  answer  to  the  changing  and  increasing 
needs  of  the  city,  the  nation,  the  world.    Not  so  much 
because  of  the  precise  results  achieved,  the  definite 
ministry   rendered,    ought   this   development    to    be 
pointed  out,  but  because  of  the  purpose  which  it  re- 
veals, the  living  power  to  which  it  testifies— a  prom- 
ise for  the  future  even  more  than  a  record  of  the  past. 
The  latest  report  tells  us  that  the  people  of  the 
Brick  Church  contributed  during  the  year,  for  the 
work  of  Christ's  kingdom  among  men  at  home  and 
abroad,    something    over    $155,000.      In    the    Brick 
Church   itself,   more   numerous   services   are   main- 
tained to-day  than  were  ever  regularly  maintained 
on  Beekman  Street,  to  which  should  be  added  as  many 
more  in  the  two  affiliated  churches;   but  to-day  these 
services,  and  all  the  more  personal  work  of  religious 
and  moral  instruction  and  influence,  no  longer  sat- 
isfy the  ideal  of  the  people,  nor  exhaust  their  ener- 


492  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

gies.  On  the  contrary,  this  distinctly  religious  min- 
istry is  now  regarded  as  the  central  and  culminating 
department  of  a  work  which  reaches  out  in  every  di- 
rection, to  touch  and  uplift  every  interest  of  the  neigh- 
boring population. 

The  Brick  Church,  in  union  with  Christ  Church 
and  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  that  singularly  per- 
fect example  of  true  Christian  brotherhood,  has 
consciously  undertaken  the  task  of  ministering  to 
every  need  that  it  can  discover  in  an  entire  district  of 
New  York  City.  It  sets  no  limit  to  its  responsibility. 
The  nursing  and  doctoring  of  the  sick;  the  improve- 
ment of  the  homes  of  the  people ;  the  provision  of  in- 
struction and  of  the  means  of  culture  and  of  industrial 
training — books,  classes,  workshops;  the  arousing 
of  a  sense  of  civic  pride  and  civic  responsibility;  the 
improvement  of  social  and  industrial  conditions;  the 
promotion  of  the  happiness  of  individuals,  through 
the  ministry  of  personal  friendship,  through  oppor- 
tunities for  wholesome  social  intercourse,  through 
the  encouragement  of  sports  and  other  recreations — 
happiness  for  people  of  all  ages,  from  the  little  chil- 
dren at  their  nursery  games,  to  the  fathers  and  the 
mothers,  whose  need  of  relaxation  and  refreshment 
becomes  more  and  more  pressing  as  the  strain  of  our 
modern  life  grows  greater — these  are  some  of  the 
activities  to  which  the  present  church  believes  itself 
called  by  the  voice  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  a  great  change  from  the  conditions  of  1767, 
but  it  has  been  accomplished,  it  should  be  observed, 
without  the  church's  losing  in  the  slightest  degree  its 
character  as  a  church,  without  its  ceasing  for  a  mo- 
ment to  be  still  an  association  of  Christian  believers, 


BOWLING  ALLEYS  AND  LIBRARY,  CHRIST  CHURCH  MEMORIAL  HOUSE 


THE   CHURCH   OF  THE  PRESENT   493 

of  Christian  worshippers,  of  teachers  of  Christian 
truth,  of  trainers  in  Christian  character.  But  the  old 
ideals  and  the  old  work  have  been  transformed,  re- 
generated, by  a  new  baptism  of  the  essential  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  service. 

There  is  no  intention  to  assert  that  the  Brick 
Church  has  yet  done  its  full  duty,  or  that  the  service 
it  has  rendered  has  been  adequate  to  existing  needs. 
The  aim  is  not  at  all  to  declare  that  the  goal  has  been 
reached  or  even  that  it  is  within  sight,  but  only  to 
point  out  that  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  the  typical 
history  of  the  Brick  Church  makes  evident,  moves 
toward  that  goal  with  a  certainty  and  a  genuineness 
of  purpose  which  cannot  be  mistaken.  The  Chris- 
tian Church  is  a  living  church.  It  lives  in  the  pres- 
ent world,  and  hears  the  cries  for  help  and  shares 
the  suffering  and  trouble,  and  knows  that  its  com 
mission  from  the  Master  is  to  spend  itself  in  ministry. 

If  the  history  of  this  volume  is  a  fair  assurance 
that  the  Brick  Church  has  made  an  inspiring  ad- 
vance in  the  century  and  a  half  already  completed, 
and,  if  it  is  a  true  prophecy  of  the  direction  of  her 
development  and  of  the  distance  that  she  will  travel 
in  the  century  and  a  half  now  lying  before  us,  there 
is  reason  why  the  members  of  that  church  should 
thank  God  and  press  on  with  confidence  and  courage. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY* 


I.    KEY 

TO   ABBREVIATIONS    OF  TITLES   USED   IN    THE   NOTES   OF   THIS   VOLUME 


Assembly  Digest See  below,  No.       3 

Br.  Ch.  Mem "  "  "       66 

Church  of  the  Covenant  (The) "  "  "        90 

Common  Council        "  "  "       20 

Cutler's  Life,  etc "  "  "         8 

Decade  of  Work  (A) "  "  "190 

Disosway "  "  "          9 

Document  No.  37 "  "  "       82 

Eleven  Years *'  "  "111 

Historic  Church  (An) "  "  "179 

Jones  N.  Y.  in  Rev "  "  "       13 

Life  and  Times "  "  "        58 

Manuscript  Hist "  "  "191 

Mem.  Hist,  of  N.  Y "  "  "        19 

Memorial  Discourse "  "  "110 

N.  Y.  in  1789 "  "  "        15 

Rodgers  Mem "  "  "       34 

Sprague's  Annals "  "  "        16 

State  Thanksgiving,  etc "  "  "166 

II.     GENERAL  AUTHORITIES 

CONSULTED   IN   THE    PREPARATION    OF   THIS    HISTORY 


ADAMS,  JOHN,  2d  President  of  the  U.  S.— 

1.  Works  of.   (1850.) 

ALEXANDER,  S.  D.— 

2.  The  Presbytery  of  New  York,  1738  to  1888.     (N.  Y.  1887.) 

BAIRD,  SAMUEL  J.,  Editor— 

3.  *  A  Collection  of  the  Acts,  Deliverances  and  Testimonies  of  the 

Supreme  Judicatory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     (2d  edi- 
tion,    Phil.,  1858.) 

♦Throughout  the  following  lists  an  asterisk  means  that  the  work  to 
whose  name  it  is  prefixed  is  contained  in  the  Brick  Church  Library. 

497 


498  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BANCROFT,  GEORGE— 

4.  History  of  the  United  States. 

BEECHER,  REV.  LYMAN— 

5.  Autobiography  of,  ed.  by  C.  Beecher.     (N.  Y.,  1865.) 

BOURNE,  W.  O.— 

6.  History  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York.     (1870.) 

CARTER,  R.— 

7.  Familiar   Conversations  on   the   History  of  the   Evangelical 

Churches  of  New  York.     (N.  Y.,  1839.) 

CUTLER,  REV.  MANASSEH,  LL.D.— 

8.  Life,  Journals  and  Correspondence  of,  by  his  grandchildren. 

(1888.) 

DISOSWAY,  GABRIEL  P.— 

9.  The  Earliest  Churches  of  New  York  and  Its  Vicinity.    (N.  Y., 

1865.) 

FERRIS,  ISAAC  F.— 

10.  Semi-Centennial   Memorial   Discourse   of  the   Sunday-school 

Union.     (1866.) 

GREENLEAF,  J.— 

11.  A  History  of  the  Churches  of  all  Denominations  in  New  York. 

(N.  Y.,  1850.) 

IRVING,  WASHINGTON— 

12.  Life  and  Times  of,  by  P.  M.  Irving.     (N.  Y.,  1883.) 

JONES,  THOMAS— 

13.  History  of  New  York  during  the  Revolutionary  War.     Edited 

by  Edward  de  Lancy.     (N.  Y.,  1879.) 

REED,  NEWTON— 

14.  Early  History  of  Amenia,  N.  Y.     (Amenia,  1875.) 

SMITH,  T.  E.  v.— 

15.  The  City  of  New  York  in  1789.     (N.  Y.,  1889.) 

SPRAGUE,  REV.  WILLIAM  B.,  D.D.— 

16.  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.     (N.  Y.,  1858.) 

VAN  PELT,  DANIEL— 

17.  Leslie's  History  of  Greater  New  York.     (N.  Y.,  1899.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  499 

WASHINGTON,  GEORGE- 
IS.  Writings  of,  ed.  with  Life,  by  J.  Sparks.     (Boston,  1837.) 

WILSON,  JAMES  GRANT,  Editor— 

19.  Memorial  History  of  the  City  of  New  York.     (N.  Y.,  1892.) 

MISCELLANEOUS— 

20.  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Printed  Minutes  of. 

(N.  Y.,  1905.) 

21.  New  York  City  in  the  American  Revolution.     (N.  Y.,  1861.) 

22.  *  Presbyterian  Reunion,  The.     (N.  Y.,  1870.) 

23.  *  Presbytery  of  New  York,  Hand-book  of,  for  1903-1904. 

24.  Westervelt  Manuscripts,  Lenox  Library. 

III.    BOOKS 

RELATING  TO  THE  BRICK  CHURCH  AND  ITS  OFFICERS  AND  MEMBERS,  IN- 
CLUDING  WORKS   BY   ITS   MINISTERS 

ALLEN,  MOSES— 

25.  *  Memorial  of,  containing  the  funeral  sermon  by  Dr.  L.  D. 

Bevan.  (N.  Y.,  1878.) 

BABCOCK,  REV.  MALTBIE  DAVENPORT,  D.D.— 

26.  Thoughts  for  Every-day  Living.     (N.  Y.,  1901.) 

27.  Letters  from  Egypt  and  Palestine.     (N.  Y.,  1902.) 

28.  Hymns  and  Carols.     (N.  Y.,  1903.) 

28a.  A  Reminiscent  Sketch  of,  by  Charles  E.  Robinson,  D.D. 
(N.  Y.,  1904.) 

BEVAN,  REV.  LLEWELYN  D.,  D.D.,  see  Allen  Memorial,  No.  25. 

CADY,  J.  CLEVELAND,  LL.D.,  see  Forty  Years,  etc..  No.  75. 

ELY,  ABNER  L.— 

29.  *  A  Memorial  of,  containing  the  funeral  sermon  by  Dr.  James 

O.  Murray.     (N.  Y.,  1873.) 

HOGE,  REV.  W.  J.,  D.D.,  see  Brick  Church  Memorial,  No.  56. 
HOLDEN,  HORACE,  see  Brick  Church  Memorial,  No.  56. 

LORD,  DANIEL— 

30.  *  Memorial  of,  including  addresses  by  Dr.  James  O.  Murray, 

Dr.  Spring,  and  others.     (N.  Y.,  1869.) 
See  also  Brick  Church  Memorial,  No.  56. 


500  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

MILLER,  REV.  SAMUEL,  D.D.,  LL.D.— 

31.  A  Brief  Retrospect  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.     (1803.) 

32.  Letters  Concerning  the  Constitution  and  Order  of  the  Chris- 

tian Ministry.     (1807.) 

33.  A  continuation  of  the  same.     (1809.) 

34.  *Memoirs  of  John  Rodgers.     (1813.) 

35.  Letters  on  Clerical  Manners  and  Habits.     (1827.) 

(The  rest  of  Dr.  Miller's  published  volumes,  written  after 
his  departure  from  New  York,  need  not  be  listed  here. 
They  are  given  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  605.) 

36.  Life  of,  by  Samuel  Miller.     (Phil.,  1869.) 

MORGAN,  GOV.  EDWIN  DENISON— 

37.  *Memorial  of,  including  an  address  by  Dr.  Murray  and  a  ser-^ 

mon  by  Mr.  van  Dyke.  Also  Memorials  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
E.  D.  Morgan,  Jr.,      (N.  Y.,  1883.) 

MURRAY,  REV.  JAMES  ORMSBEE,  D.D.,  See  Ely  Memorial 
No.  29;  Lord  Memorial,  No.  30;  and  Morgan  Memorial 
No.  37. 

RICHARDS,  REV.  WILLIAM  R.,  D.D.— 

38.  *The  Ways  of  Wisdom  and  other  sermons.     (N.  Y.,  1886.) 

39.  An  Extraordinary  Saint,  a  sermon  in  the  volume.  The  Culture 

of  Christian  Manhood,  a  collection  of  sermons  preached  in 
Battell  Chapel,  Yale  University.     (1897.) 

40.  *Victory,  An  Easter  Sermon.     (Plainfield,  1902.) 

41.  *For  Whom  Christ  Died.     (Phila.,  1902.) 

42.  *Sermon  Commemorating  the  Two-Hundredth  Anniversary 

of  the  Birth  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  preached  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary,  October  4th,  1903.  Printed  with 
the  other  proceedings.     (Andover,  1903.) 

43.  God's  Choice  of  Men;  a  Study  of  Scripture.     (N.  Y.,  1905.) 

44.  The  Apostles'  Creed  in  Modern  Worship.     (N.  Y.,  1906.) 

See  also  Forty  Years,  etc.,  No.  75. 

ROBINSON,  C.  E.,  see  No.  28a. 

SPRING,  REV.  GARDINER,  D.D.,  LL.D.— 

45.  *Essays  on  the  Distinguishing  Traits  of  Christian  Character. 

(N.  Y.,  1813.) 

46.  *Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills.     (N.  Y.,  1820). 

47.  *Christian  Confidence,  illustrated  by  the  Death  of  Rev.  Ed- 

ward D.  Griffen,  D.D.     (N.  Y.,  1838.) 

48.  *Fragments  from  the  Study  of  a  Pastor.     (N.  Y.,  1838.) 

49.  The  Obligations  of  the  World  to  the  Bible.     (N.  Y.,  1839.) 

50.  *The  Attraction  of  the  Cross.     (N.  Y.,  1845.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  501 

51.  *The  Power  of  the  Pulpit.     (N.  Y.,  1848.) 

52.  The  Mercy  Seat.     (N.  Y.,  1850.) 

53.  *First  Things.     (N.  Y.,  1851.) 

54.  *The  Glory  of  Christ.     (N.  Y.,  1852.) 

55.  *The  Contrast.     (N.  Y.,  1855.) 

56.  *The  Brick  Church  Memorial,  including  also  addresses  by 

Horace  Holden,  Daniel  Lord,  and  Dr.  Hoge.     (N.  Y., 
1861.) 

57.  Pulpit  Ministrations.     (N.  Y.,  1864.) 

58.  *Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  Life  and  Times  of.     (N.  Y. 

1866.) 
See  also  Lord  Memorial,  No.  30. 

VAN  DYKE,  REV.  HENRY,  D.D.,  LL.D.— 

59.  The  Reality  of  Religion.     (N.  Y.,  1884.) 

60.  *The  Story  of  the  Psalms.     (N.  Y.,  1887.) 

61.  Straight  Sermons,  (1893.)     A  new  and  enlarged  edition  under 

the  title  *  Sermons  to  Young  Men,  was  published  in  1898. 

62.  *The  Christ-Child  in  Art.     (N.Y.,  1894.) 

63.  *The  Story  of  the  Other  Wise  Man.     (N.  Y.,  1896.) 

64.  *The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt.     (N.  Y.,  1896.) 

64a.  The  Meaning  of  Manhood,  a  Sermon  in  the  volume,  The  Cult- 
ure of  Christian  Manhood,  a  collection  of  sermons 
preached  in  Battell  Chapel,  Yale  University.     (1897.) 

65.  The  First  Christmas  Tree.     (N.  Y.,  1897.) 

66.  *Ships  and  Havens.     (N.  Y.,  1897.) 

67.  The  Lost  Word.     (N.  Y.,  1898.) 

68.  *The  Gospel  for  a  World  of  Sin.     (N.  Y.,  1899.) 

69.  *The  Poetry  of  the  Psalms.     (N.  Y.,  1900.) 

70.  *The  Toiling  of  Felix,  and  Other  Poems.     (N.  Y.,  1900.) 

71.  The  Friendly  Year,  edited  by  Rev.  George  S.  Webster.     (N. 

Y.,  1900.) 

72.  *Joy  and  Power.     (N.  Y.,  1903.) 

73.  *The  Open  Door.     (N.  Y.,  1903.) 

74.  The  Spirit  of  Christmas.     (N.  Y.,  1905.) 

See  also  Morgan  Memorial,  No.  37. 
74a.  *Biographical  Sketch  of,  by  his  daughter,  Brooke  van  Dyke, 
see  The  van  Dyke  Book.  (N.  Y.,  1905.) 
(Dr.  Van  Dyke  has  edited  the  Church  Psalter,  and  also 
the  Book  of  Responsive  Readings  used  in  the  Chapel  of 
Harvard  University.  He  also  composed  a  large  part  of  the 
Presbyterian  Book  of  Common  Worship.  His  many  vol- 
umes of  a  less  distinctively  religious  character  are  not  in- 
cluded in  the  above  list.  Nos.  63,  65,  67,  70,  74,  and  also 
the  poems  "  Vera"and  "  The  Legend  of  Service,"  were  first 
used  at  Christmas  services  in  the  Brick  Church.) 


502  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

WEBSTER,  REV.  GEORGE  S.,  D.D.— 

75.  *Forty  Years  of  Covenant  Mercies,  a  Description  of  the  His- 

toric Memorials  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  includ- 
ing addresses  delivered  January  28th,  1906,  by  Rev.  Wil- 
liam R.  Richards,  D.D.,  and  J.   Cleveland  Cady,  LL.D. 
(N.  Y.  1906.) 
See  also  The  Friendly  Year,  No.  71. 

MISCELLANEOUS— 

76.  *Brick    Church    Hymns    (The),   for    Prayer-meetings,   etc. 

(N.  Y.,  1823.) 
76a.  *Sacrifice  of  Praise  (The).     Psalms,  Hymns  and  Spiritual 
Songs,  published  by  the   session  of   the  Brick   Church. 
(N.  Y.,  1869;   with  tunes,  1872.) 

77.  Year  Books  of  the  Brick  Church  for  *1828,  *1832,  *1833, 

*1866,  *1869  (two  edtitions),  1885  and  annually  thereafter. 
(*  from  1887-1888  to  present  except  1891-1892  and 
1896-1897.) 

IV.    PAMPHLETS 

RELATING  TO  THE  BRICK  CHURCH,  ITS  AFFILIATED  CHURCHES,  AND  THE 
OLD  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT,  OR  WRITTEN  BY  THEIR  PASTORS 

78.  "Announcements"  of  the  Brick  Church,  published  weekly 

October  to  May  of  each  year  from  1890  to  the  present. 
(*  All  except  1901-1902  and  1902-1903.) 

BABCOCK,  REV.  MALTBIE  DAVENPORT,  D.D.— 

79.  *The  Success  of  Defeat,  delivered  at  the  Fourth  Annual  Con- 

vention of  the  Maryland  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  De- 
cember, 1893.     (Baltimore.) 

80.  *A  Day  of  Testing,  What  Shall  it  Bring  Out  of  Us  ?   Addresses 

delivered  at  the  Memorial  Service  for  the  Martyred  Mis- 
sionaries in  China,  October  28th,  1900. 

BEVAN,  REV.  LLEWELYN  D.,  D.D.— 

81.  *Service  and  Rest,  a  Sermon  in  Memory  of  Frederick  Denison 

Maurice,  M.A.,  preached  at  Tottenham  Court  Road 
Chapel.     (London,  1872.) 

BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN— 

82.  Document  No.  37,  relating  to  sale  of  property  of  Brick 

Church.  1854. 

DEWITT,  JOHN— 

83.  *James  Ormsbee  Murray,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  A  Memorial  Sermon. 

(Princeton,  1899.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  503 

DODGE,  HOSEA,  see  No.  167. 

"EVANGELICUS  PACIFICUS,"  see  Nos.  170  and  172. 

FARR,  REV.  JAMES  M.— 

84.  *The  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work:  an  Historical  Sermon, 

including  also  an  address  by  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons,  and  a 
letter  from  Rev.  Joseph  J.  Lampe,  D.D.     (N.  Y.,  1906.) 

85.  *Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Founding  of  the  Christ  Church 

Work.     (1907.) 

FISHER,  REV.  SAMUEL,  A.M.— 

86.  *A  Sermon  preached  May,  1821,  in  the  Brick  Church,  New 

York,  before  the  Presbyterian  Education  Society.     (New- 
ark, 1821.) 

GRIFFEN,  REV.  EDWARD  D.,  D.D.— 

87.  *Living  to  God,  a  sermon  preached  June  16,  1816,  at  the 

Brick  Presbyterian   Church  in  the   City  of  New  York. 
(N.  Y.,  1816.) 

HOGE,  REV.  WILLIAM  J.,  D.D— 

88.  Installation  Services  of.     (1859.) 

89.  *A  Discourse  delivered  on  the  resignation  of  his  charge  (colle- 

giate  pastorate   of   the    Brick    Church),   July  21st,   1861. 
(N.Y.,1861.) 

LAMPE,  REV.  JOSEPH  J.,  D.D.,  see    Story    of    Christ    Church 
Work,  No.  84. 

McILVAINE,  REV.  JAMES  HALL,  D.D.— 

90.  *The  Church  of  the  Covenant,  a  Historical  Sermon  at  the  last 

service  held  in  the  church,  February  11th,  1894. 

Mcknight,  rev.  john,  d.d.— 

91.  Six  Sermons  on  Faith  (recommended  by  Drs.  Rodgers  and 

Witherspoon).     (1790.) 

92.  A  Thanksgiving  Sermon.     (1795.) 

93.  A  Sermon  before  the  New  York  Missionary  Society.     (1799.) 

94.  A  Sermon  on  the  Present  State  of  the  Political  and  Religious 

World.     (1802.) 

95.  A  Sermon  on  the  death  of  the  Rev.  John  King.     (1811.) 

MILLEDOLER,  REV.  P.— 

95a.  A  Sermon  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Beekman 
Street,  1810,  at  the  ordination  and  installation  of  the  Rev. 
Gardiner  Spring  as  pastor  of  said  church.     (N.  Y.,  1810.) 


504  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

MILLER,  REV.  SAMUEL,  D.D.— 

96.  A  Sermon  preached  in  New  York  at  the  request  of  the  Tam- 

many Society  and  the  Columbian  Order,  on  the  Anniver- 
sary of  American  Independence.     ( 1 793 .) 

97.  A  Discourse  delivered  in  the  New  Presbyterian  Church  before 

the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State  of  New  York.     (1795.) 

98.  A  Discourse  Commemorative  of  the  Discovery  of  New  York 

by  Henry  Hudson.    (N.  Y.  Historical  Collection.)    (1795.) 

99.  A  Sermon  delivered  in  the  New  Presbyterian  Church,   New 

York,  July  Fourth,  1795,  being  the  Nineteenth  Anniver- 
sary of  the  Independence  of  America,  at  the  request  of  and 
before,  the  Mechanic,  Tammany,  and  Democratic  Soci- 
eties, and  the  Military  officers.     (N.  Y.,  1795.) 

100.  *A  Discourse  delivered  April  12th,  1797,  at  the  request  of  and 

before,  the  New  York  Society  for  the  Promoting  of  the 
Manumission  of  Slaves  and  protecting  such  of  them  as 
have  been  or  may  be  liberated.     (N.  Y.,  1797.) 

101.  A  Sermon  delivered  in  New  York,  May  9th,  1798,  recom- 

mended by  the  President  as  a  day  of  General  Humiliation, 
etc.     (1798.) 

102.  *A  Sermon  delivered  February  5th,  1799.     Recommended  by 

the  clergy  of  the  City  of  New  York  to  be  observed  as  a  day 
of  Thanksgiving,  Humiliation,  and  Prayer,  on  account  of 
the  Removal  of  a  malignant  and  mortal  disease  which  had 
prevailed  in  the  city  some  time  before.     (N.  Y.,  1799.) 

103.  A  Sermon  delivered  December  29th,  1799,  occasioned  by  the 

death  of  General  Washington.     (1799.) 

104.  A  Sermon  before  the  New  York  Missionary  Society,  April 

6th,  1802.     (1802.) 

105.  *The  Guilt,  Folly,  and  Sources  of  Suicide:   two  Discourses 

preached  in  the  City  of  New  York,  February,  1805. 
(N.  Y.,  1805.) 

106.  A  Sermon  preached  March  13th,  1808,  for  the  benefit  of  a  so- 

ciety in  New  York  for  the  relief  of  poor  widows  with  small 
children.     (1808.) 

107.  *The  Divine  Appointment,  the  Duties  and  the  Qualification 

of  Ruling  Elders:  a  Sermon,  preached  in  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  City  of  New  York,  May  28th,  1809. 
(N.Y.,  1811.) 

108.  Address  of  Introduction  at  the  ordination  of  Gardiner  Spring, 

August,  1810. 

(Other  pamphlets  of  Dr.  Miller,  published  after  his  de- 
parture from  New  York,  were  very  numerous,  but  need 
not  be  listed  here.  See  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  Ill,  pp. 
605  /.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  505 

MURRAY,  REV.  JAMES  ORMSBEE,  D.D.— 

109.  *Christian   Hymnology:    a   Sermon   preached   in   the    Brick 

Church,  New  York,  December  12th,  1869.     (N.  Y.,  1870.) 

110.  *A  Discourse  Commemorating  the  Ministerial  Character  and 

Services  of  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  with  an  Ap- 
pendix containing   the  addresses   made  at   the   funeral, 
August  22d,  1873.     (N.  Y.) 
For  biographical  sketch  see  No.  83. 

PARSONS,  JOHN  E.     See  the  Story  of  the  Christ  Church  Work, 
No.  84. 

PRENTISS.  REV.  GEORGE  L.,  D.D.— 

111.  *Eleven  Years  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant:    a  Sermon 

preached  April  27th,  1873.     (N.  Y.,  1873.) 

112.  *Memorial  of,  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Directors  and 

Faculty  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  including  the 
funeral  address  by  Dr.  M.  R.  Vincent. 

RICHARDS,  REV.  WILLIAM  R.,  D.D.— 

112a.  Revision  of  the  Confession  of  Faith:  two  sermons  preached 
in  the  Crescent  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Plainfield, 
N.  J.,  September  22d,  1889. 

112b.  Sermon  preached  on  Sunday  evening,  January  25th,  1891,  at 
the  CrescentAvenue  Presbyterian' Church,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

113.  *The  Ten  Commandments  Filled  Full  by  Christ:    a  Sermon 

preached  in  the  Crescent  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
Plainfield,  N.  J.,  July  10th,  1892. 

114.  *A  Talk  on  Sunday  Observance,  published  by  the  Woman's 

National  Sabbath  Alliance. 

115.  *The    City    and    Its    Church:     annual    Address    before    the 

Alumni  [of  Hartford  Seminary]  and  Pastoral  Union,  June 
2d,  1896.  Reprinted  from  the  Hartford  Seminary  Rec- 
ord for  June  and  August,  1896. 

116.  *Sermon    delivered    in    the    Crescent   Avenue    Presbyterian 

Church,  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  May  20th,  1900. 

117.  *Honor  to  Whom  Honor  is  Due:  sermon  preached  in  the 

Brick  Church,  February  22d,  1903.  (Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution.) 

118.  *Desiring   a    Better   Country:    the    Fourth   Annual    Sermon 

preached  before  the  New  England  Society,  on  Forefathers' 
Day,  December  20th,  1903. 

119.  *In  the  Unity  of  the  Faith:    a  Sermon  preached  April  10th, 

1904,  on  the  Tenth  Anniversary  of  the  Consolidation  of 
the  Brick  Church  and  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  (N. 
Y.,  1904.) 


506  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

120.  *The  Ministry  of  Quiet  Work :  a  Sermon. 

121.  *National   Prosperity:    a  Sermon  in  the   interests  of  Home 

Missions,  preached  March  13th,  1904. 

122.  *Angel  or  Man  ?     a  Sermon  preached  April  17th,  1904. 

123.  *Two  Sermons,  "Privilege"  and  "To  Follow  is  to  Believe." 

(N.  Y.,  1907.) 

RODGERS,  REV.  JOHN,  D.D.— 

124.  *The  Divine  Goodness  Displayed  in  the  American  Revolu- 

tion :  a  Sermon.     (N.  Y.,  1784.) 

RUGGLES,  S.  B.— 

125.  An  Examination  of  the  Law  of  Burial. 

SPRING,  REV.  GARDINER,  D.D.,  LL.D.— 

126.  Sermon  on  Faith  and  Works,  preached  April  21st,  1811,  for 

the  benefit  of  a  Society  of  Ladies  instituted  for  the  Relief 
of  Poor  Widows  with  Small  Children.     (1811.) 

127.  *Something  Must  Be  Done:  Sermon  preached  on  the  last  day 

of  the  old  year.     (Newburyport,  1816.) 

128.  *The  Doctrine  of  Election :  a  Sermon.     (Cooperstown,  1817). 

129.  An  Oration:  February  5th,  1817,  before  the  Alumni  of  Yale 

College,  rendered  in  the  City  of  New  York  in  Commem- 
oration of  their  Late  President,  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D., 
LL.D.     (N.  Y.,  1817.) 

130.  A  Brief  Review  of  Facts  in  relation  to  the  Formation  of  the 

New  York  Missionary  Society  of  Young  Men.     (1817.) 

131.  Remarks  on  the  Charges  made  against  the  Religion  and  Mor- 

als of  the  People  of  Boston  and  Vicinity,  with  a  Sermon 
preached  at  New  York  before  the  New  England  Society, 
December  22d,  1820.  (1821.)  The  sermon  was  printed 
separately  under  the  title,*  "A  Tribute  to  New  England," 
(N.Y.,1821.) 

132.  A  sermon  before  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 

(1823.) 

133.  *An  Appeal  to  the  Citizens  of  New  York  in  behalf  of  the 

Christian  Sabbath.  (N.  Y.,  1823.)  Reprinted  *  in  mod- 
ern Greek,  1829,  and  in  Italian. 

134.  *The  Discriminating  Preacher:  a  Sermon  at  the  ordination  of 

the  Rev.  Carlos  Wilcox.     (Hartford,  1825.) 

135.  The  Excellence  and  Influence  of  the  Female  Character:  a 

Sermon.     (1825.) 

136.  An  Address  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American 

Tract  Society.     (1825.) 

137.  The  Internal  Evidences  of  Inspiration.     (1826.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  507 

138.  Funeral  Sermon,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Philip 

Melancthon  Whepley.     (N.  Y.,  1826.) 

139.  A  Dissertation  on  the  Means  of  Regeneration.     (1827.) 

140.  Moses  on  Nebo,  or  Death  a  Duty:  Sermon  on  the  death  of 

Rev.  Joseph  S.  Christmas.     (N.  Y.,  1830.) 

141.  *A  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  the  Late  Jeremiah  Evarts.    (N. 

Y.,  1831.) 

142.  *A  Sermon  Preached  August  3d,  1832,  a  Day  Set  Apart  for 

Pubhc  Fasting,  etc.,  on  account  of  the  MaHgnant  Cholera. 
(N.Y.,  1832.) 

143.  Address  to  the  Theological  Students  at  Princeton  Seminary. 

(1832.) 

144.  *Hints  to  Parents.     (N.Y.,  1833.) 

145.  A  Dissertation  on  Native  Depravity.     (N.  Y.,1833.) 

146.  The  Extent  of  Missionary  Enterprise:   Sermon  at  the  annual 

meeting  of  the  Congregational  Union  of  England  and 
Wales.     (London,  1835.) 

147.  *The  Will  of  God  Performed  on  Earth:  a  Sermon  preached  at 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  October  8th,  1834,  before  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  (Boston, 
1835.) 

148.  The  Power  of  Sin :  a  Sermon.    (1837.) 

149.  Christian  Knowledge:  a  Sermon  introductory  to  the  Murray 

Street  Lectures.     (1837.) 

150.  *An  Address  before  the  Mercantile   Library  Association  of 

the  City  of  New  York.     (N.  Y.,  1837.) 

151.  *Death  and  Heaven:   a  Sermon  preached  at  Newark  at  the  in- 

terment of  Rev.  Edward  D.  Griff  en.  (N.  Y.,  1838.)  Pub- 
lished in  book  form  under  the  title,  Christian  Confidence, 
see  No.  47. 

152.  The  New  Sepulchre,  Discourse  on  the  Death  of  William 

Henry  Harrison,  April  11th,  1841.     (1841.) 

153.  Supremacy  of  God  over  the  Nations,  discourse  preached  May 

14th,  1841,  a  day  of  National  Fast  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Death  of  William  Henry  Harrison.     (1841.) 

154.  *The  Danger  and  Hope  of  the  American  People,  a  discourse 

on  the  day  of  the  annual  Thanksigving  in  the  State  of  New 
York.     (N.  Y.,  1843.) 

155.  The  Saviour's  Presence  with  His  Ministers,  delivered  at  the 

opening  of  the  General  Assembly  at  Louisville.     (1844.) 

156.  A  Dissertation  on  the  Rule  of  Faith,  delivered  at  Cincinnati, 

Ohio,  at  the  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  American  Bible 
Society.     (N.Y.,1844.) 

157.  The  Bible  Not  of  Man,  or  the  Argument  for  the  Divine  Origin 

of  the  Scriptures,  drawn  from  the  Scriptures  Themselves, 
(N.  Y.,  1847.) 


508  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

158.  The  Bethel  Flag;  short  Sermons  to  seamen.     (1848.) 

159.  Strictures  on  the  Princeton  Review.     (1848.) 

160.  *Influence:  a  Quarter-Century  Sermon,  preached  in  behalf  of 

the  American  Tract  Society.     (1850.) 

161.  Address  before  the  New  York  Female  Bible  Society.     (1853.) 

162.  Triumph  in  Suffering:  Sermon  preached  at  the  funeral  of  the 

Rev.  Dr.  Spencer.     (1855.) 

163.  Sermon  at  the  Installation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hoge.     (1859.) 

164.  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Horace  Holden,  Esq.     (1862.) 

165.  The  Mission  of  Sorrow.     (1862.) 

166.  *State  Thanksgiving  during  the  Rebellion:  a  Sermon  preached 

November  28th,  1861.     (N.  Y.,  1862.) 
For  Memorial  of,  see  above.  No.  110. 

SPRING,  DR.,  Pamphlets  called  forth  by  publications  of: 

167.  *A  Review  of  a  Sermon  entitled  The  Doctrine  of  Election, 

etc.,  by  G.  Spring,  A.M.,  by  Hosea  Dodge.     (N.  Y.,  1817.) 

168.  Strictures  on  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring's  Dissertation  on  the  Means 

of  Regeneration,  by  Bennet  Tyler.      Reprinted  from  the 
"  Christian  Spectator  "  for  1829.     (Portland,  1829.) 

169.  Review  of  Dr.  Tyler's  Strictures  (probably  by  Dr.  Taylor  of 

New  Haven.)    Reprinted  from  the  "  Christian  Spectator  " 
March,  1830.     (New  Haven,  1830.) 

170.  An  Evangelical  View  of  the  Nature  and  Means  of  Man's  Re- 

generation, comprising  a  review  of  Dr.  Tyler's  Strictures, 
by  Evangelicus  Pacificus.     (Boston,  1830.) 

171.  A  Vindication  of  the  Strictures  on  Rev.  Dr.  Spring's  Disser- 

tation on  the  Means  of  Regeneration,  in  reply  to  Evangel- 
icus Pacificus,  by  Bennet  Tyler.     (Portland,  1830.) 

172.  An  examination  of  Dr.  Tyler's  vindication  of  his  Strictures  in 

the   "  Christian    Spectator,"   by    Evangelicus    Pacificus. 
(Boston,  1830.) 

173.  Review  of  Dr.  Spring's  Dissertation  on  Natural  Depravity. 

Reprinted  from  the  "Quarterly    Christian    Spectator." 
(New  Haven,  1833.) 

TAYLOR,  DR.  N.  W.,  see  No.  169. 

TYLER,  BENNET.,  see  Nos.  168  and  171. 

VAN  DYKE,  REV.  HENRY,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

174.  *The  Joy  of  the  Christian  when  He  is  Invited  to  enter  the 

Lord's  House:    Sermon  preached  at  the  reopening  of  the 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  October  28th,  1883. 

175.  *Holy  Days  and  Holidays:    a  Humane  View  of  the  Sunday 

Question.     Reprinted  from  the  "  Christian  at  Work,"  of 
February  11th,  1886, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  509 

176.  *The  National  Sin  of  Literary  Piracy.     Extracts  from  a  Ser- 

mon.    (1888.) 

177.  *A  Brief  for  Foreign  Missions:    a  Sermon  preached  March 

15th,  1891. 

178.  *The  True  Presbyterian  Doctrine  of  the  Church.     (N.  Y., 

1893.) 

179.  *An  Historic  Church:  a  Sermon  preached  on  the  125th  Anni- 

versary of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  January  1st, 
1893.     (N.  Y.,  1893.) 

180.  *The  Bible  as  It  Is:    a  Sermon  on  the  present  trouble  and  the 

way  of  peace  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.    (N.  Y.,  1893.) 

181.  *The  People  Responsible  for  the  Character  of  Their  Rulers: 

a  Sermon  delivered  before  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York.     (N.  Y.,  1895.) 

182.  *The  Cross  of  War:  a  Sermon  preached  May  1st,  1898. 

183.  *The  Sea,  the  Men  upon  It,  and  the  God  above  It:  a  discourse 

before  the  American  Seaman's  Friend  Society.     (N.  Y., 
1898.) 

184.  *Salt:    Baccalaureate  Sermon  at  Columbia  University.     (N. 

Y.,  1898.) 

185.  *The  American  Birthright  and  the  Philippine  Pottage:  a  Ser- 

mon preached  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  1898. 

VINCENT,  REV.  MARVIN  R.,  D.D.— 

186.  *Thirty-fifth   Anniversary   Sermon,   preached   January  27th, 

1901,  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant. 
See  also  Prentiss  Memorial,  No.  112. 

WEBSTER,  REV.  GEORGE  S.,  D.D.— 

187.  *Quarter-Century  Anniversary  of   Covenant  Chapel:  a  Ser- 

mon delivered  November  8th,  1891. 

188.  *Souvenir  of  the  Quarter-Century  Anniversary  of  the  Dedi- 

cation of  the  Church  Building:    historical  sketch,  dated 
January  1st,  1897. 

189.  *Our  Church  God's  Home.     A  review  of  four  years'  work  as 

an  independent  church,  delivered  January  2d,  1898. 

190.  *A  Decade  of  Work  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.     (1900.) 

V.    MANUSCRIPT  SOURCES 

191.  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  City  till 

1795.     Anonymous.     Preserved  in  the  back  of  the  vol- 
ume next  mentioned. 

192.  Session  Minutes  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  1765-1808 

(in  the  custody  of  the  Old  First  Church). 

193.  *Session  Minutes  of  the  Brick  Church,  1809  to  the  present 

time,  7  Vols. 


510  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

194.  *Trustees'  Minutes  of  the  Brick  Church,  1809  to  the  present, 

2  Vols. 

195.  *Minutes   of   the   Brick   Church   Sunday-school,   1832-1850 

(with  considerable  gaps). 

196.  *Sunday-school  Record  Books  from  1839  (many  years  mis- 

sing). 

197.  *Minutes  of  the  Employment  Society,  1869  to  the  present. 

198.  *Treasurer's  Accounts  of  the  Female  Auxiliary  Tract  Asso- 

ciation of  the  Brick  Church,  1837-1861. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  A 

CHRONOLOGY 

note:   events  in  the  history  of  the  old  church  of  the  cove- 
nant ARE   ENCLOSED   IN   BRACKETS 

1706.  First  Presbyterian  Worship  in  New  York. 

1716.  James  Anderson,  first  minister. 

17'27.  Ebenezer  Pemberton,  second  minister. 

1750.  Alexander  Cummings,  colleague  of  Mr.  Pemberton. 

1755.  David  Bostwick  becomes  minister. 

1755.  Joseph  Treat,  associate  minister. 

1765.  John  Rodgers  succeeds  Mr.  Bostwick,  September  -Ith. 

1766.  The  "Vineyard  Lot"  obtained,  Februaiy  25th. 

1767.  New  Church  built. 

1768.  New  Church  opened,  January  1st. 

1783.  Thanksgiving  after  the  Revolution,  December  11th. 

1784.  New  Church  reopened,  June  27th. 

1785.  James  ^Yilson,  colleague  of  Dr.  Rodgers. 

1789.  John  McKnight,  colleague  of  Dr.  Rodgers. 

1790.  Charity  School  opened,  May  1st. 

1793.     Samuel  Miller  colleague  of  Dr.  Rodgers  and  Mr.  McKnight. 

1809.  End  of  the  collegiate  system,  April  12th. 

1810.  Installation  of  Gardiner  Spring,  August  8th. 

1810.  Lecture-room  built. 

1811.  Death  of  Dr.  Rodgers,  May  7th. 
1815-16.     Revival. 

1816.     Sunday-schools  started. 
1822.     Beginning  of  choir. 
1832.     Chapel  replaces  lecture-room. 
1856.     Beekman  Street  property  sold. 

513 


514  APPENDIX  A 

1856.  Last  service  on  Beekman  Street,  May  25th. 

1857.  Mission  School  started,  October. 

1858.  Present  Brick  Church  dedicated,  October  31st. 

1859.  William  J.  Hoge,  colleague  of  Dr.  Spring. 

[1860.  Beginning  of  Church  of  the  Covenant,  November  25th.] 

1862.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  colleague  of  Dr.  Spring. 

[1862.  Church  of  the  Covenant  organized,  March  21st.] 

[1862.  George  L.  Prentiss  installed.  May  11th.] 

1865.  James  O.  Murray,  colleague  of  Dr.  Spring. 

[1865.  Church  of  the  Covenant  dedicated,  April  30th.] 

[1866.  Covenant  Mission  Sunday-school  organized,  January  28th.] 

1867.  Joseph  J.  Lampe,  pastor  of  Brick  Church  Mission. 

1867.  Brick  Church  Mission  Chapel  dedicated,  October  20th. 

1869.  Last  Old  School  and  New  School  Assemblies  meet  in  Brick 
Church  and  Church  of  the  Covenant. 

1869.  "The  Sacrifice  of  Praise"  published. 

[1871.  Covenant  Chapel  dedicated,  December  24th.] 

1873.  Death  of  Dr.  Spring,  August  18th:  Dr.  Murray  becomes  sole 

pastor. 

[1873,  Marvin  R.  Vincent  succeeds  Dr.  Prentiss  at  Covenant,  May 
8th.] 

1876.  Parsonage  purchased. 

1877.  Llewelyn  D.  Bevan  succeeds  Dr.  Murray,  January  16th. 
1883.  Henry  van  Dyke  succeeds  Dr.  Bevan,  January  16th. 
1883.  Church  interior  renovated :  reopened,  October  28th. 
1888.  Mission  becomes  Christ  Church,  June  6th. 

[1888.     James  H.  Mcllvaine  succeeds  Dr.  Vincent  at  Covenant,  De- 
cember 17th.] 
[1890.     George  S.  Webster,  associate  of  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  March  19th.] 
[1893.     Covenant  Chapel  becomes  new  Church  of  the  Covenant,  No- 
vember 30th.] 
[1894.     George  S.  Webster  installed  pastor  of  new  Covenant.] 
1894.     Union  of  old  Church  of  the  Covenant  and  Brick  Church,  Dr. 
Mcllvaine  becoming  co-pastor  with  Dr.  van  Dyke,  April 
12th. 

1896.  Dr.  Mcllvaine  resigns. 

1897.  Richard  R.  Wightman  succeeds  Dr.  Lampe  at  Christ  Church. 

1898.  Christ  Church  House  given. 

1900.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock  succeeds  Dr.  van  Dyke,  February  27th. 

1901.  James  M.  Farr  succeeds  Mr.  Wightman  at  Christ  Church, 

January  24th. 
1901.     Death  of  Dr.  Babcock,  May  18th. 

1901.  Dr.  van  Dyke  becomes  minister-in-charge,  December. 

1902.  William  R.  Richards  installed  pastor,  October  26th. 

1905.     Christ  Church  Memorial  Buildings  dedicated,  October  27th. 
1908.     Morris  K.  Jesup  bequest. 


APPENDIX  A 


515 


TO  THIS   CHRONOLOGY   MAY    BE   APPENDED    A    LIST   OP  THE 

RED  LETTER  DAYS 

IN   THE   BRICK   CHURCH   CALENDAR 


January  1st. 

28th. 
February  25th. 
March  21st. 
April  12th. 


"     30th. 
June  6th. 
"    27th. 

October  20th. 

27th. 
"       28th. 

31st. 
November  30th. 
December  24th 


Church  on  Beekman  Street  dedicated,  1768. 

Covenant  Mission  Sunday-school  organized,  1866. 

The  "Vineyard  Lot"  obtained,  1766. 

Church  of  the  Covenant  organized,  1862. 

End  of  collegiate  arrangement:  the  Brick  Church 
becomes  a  separate  organization,  1809. 

Union  of  Brick  Church  and  the  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant, 1896. 

Church  of  the  Covenant  dedicated,  1865. 

Christ  Church  organized,  1888. 

Beekman  Street  Church  reopened  after  the  Revolu- 
tion, 1784. 

The  Thirty-fifth  Street  Mission  Chapel  dedicated 
1867. 

Christ  Church  Memorial  Buildings  opened,  1905. 

Reopening  of  Brick  Church  after  decoration,  1883. 

Brick  Church  on  Murray  Hill  dedicated,  1858. 

Present  Church  of  the  Covenant  organized,  1893. 

Covenant  Memorial  Chapel  dedicated,  1871. 


APPENDIX  B 

MINISTERS  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

(1)  as  a  coordinate  part  of  the  first  presbyterian  church 

John  Rodgers 1767-1811* 

Joseph  Treat  (Colleague) 1767-1775t 

James  Wilson  (Colleague) 1 785-1 788t 

John  McKnight  (Colleague) 1789-1809t 

Samuel  Miller  (Colleague) 1793-1809t 

(2)  AS  A  separate  ecclesiastical  organization 

Gardiner  Spring         1810-1873* 

William  J.  Hoge  (Colleague)        1859-1861t 

William  G.  T.  Shedd  (Colleague)         .     .     .  1862-1863t 

James  O.  Murray  (Colleague) 1865-1873   - 

(Sole  Pastor)        ....  1873-1875t 

Llewelyn  D.  Bevan 1877-1882t 

Henry  van  Dyke 1883-1900} 

James  H.  McIlvaine  (Co-pastor)      ....  1894-1896} 

James  M.  Farr,  Jr.  (Assistant) 1897-1901} 

Maltbie  D.  Babcock 1900-1901* 

Henry  van  Dyke  (Minister-in-Charge)      .     .  1901-1902 

Shepherd  Knapp  (Assistant) 1901-1908t 

William  R.  Richards 1902- 

*  Died.  t  Resigned. 


516 


APPENDIX  C 

ELDERS  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 


Abraham  Van  Gelder 
John  Thompson 
Thomas  Ogilvie 
Benjaahn  Egbert 
William  Frazer 
John  Bingham 
John  Mills 


1809-1814t 
1809-18161 
1809-1815t 
1809-18181 
1809-1813t 
1809-1833t 
1809-1815t 


O 

Samuel  Osgood 1 809-1 813t 

William  Whitlock 1 809-1 836t 

Richard  Cunningham 1815-1830* 

Rensselaer  Havens 1815-1846* 

John  Adams        1815-1855t 

Stephen  Lockwood 1817-1827t 

Alfred  de  Forest 1817-1835* 

Orange  Webb 1817t 

Horace  W.  Bulkley        1817-1832* 

William  Williams,  Jr 1817-1826* 

Peter  Hawes 1823-1829t 

Abijah  Fisher 1823-1832* 

Horace  Holden 1823-1862t 

George  Douglass       1828-1831* 

Fisher  How 1828-1831* 

Erastus  Ellsworth 1828-1833* 

Moses  Allen 1828-1877t 

Silas  Holmes 1832-1856* 

Jasper  Corning 1832-1834* 

Abner  L.  Ely 1832-1871t 

Daniel  Lord 1834-1868t 

William  Couch       1834-1868} 

John  C.  Halsey 1834-1837} 

Shepherd  Knapp 1834-1875} 

James  McCall 1834-1844* 

Thomas  Egleston       1834-1838* 

Peter  Naylor 1856-1872t 

Thomas  Egleston       1856-186l} 

617 


518  APPENDIX   C 

Richard  S.  McCulloh 1856-1860$ 

James  Darrach       1856-1865* 

Levi  P.  Stone 1856-1862* 

WiNTHROP  S.  GiLMAN        1863-1 884t 

WiLLiAiii  Faxon        1863-1879* 

Ira  Bliss 1863-1878t 

Samuel  A.  Church 1863-1879t 

Benjamin  F.  Dunning 1863-1895t 

George  A.  Bennett 1863-1881* 

Charles  Scribner       1870-1871t 

John  E.  Parsons 1870- 

George  de  Forest  Lord 1870-1892t 

Thomas  C.  M.  Baton 1870-1878* 

Hamilton  Odell 1870- 

John  C.  Tucker 1881-1892t 

Ezra  M.  Kingsley 1881-1882* 

Charles  G.  Harmer       1881-1891t 

William  N.  Blakeman 1886-1890t 

Daniel  J.  Holden 1886-1897* 

Albert  R.  Ledoux 1886- 

William  D.  Barbour 1892- 

Hector  M.  Hitchings 1892- 

Adam  Campbell 1892- 

Henry  L.  Butler       1892-1895t 

Henry  D.  Noyes 1894-1900t 

W.  H.  H.  Moore 1894- 

WlLLIAM  W.   HOPPIN 1894- 

J.  Cleveland  Cady 1894- 

Theron  G.  Strong 1894- 

Alfred  E.  Marling 1894- 

Henry  L.  Smith 1904- 

Charles  O.  Kimball 1904- 

Edward  C.  Van  Glahn 1904- 

Thomas  E.  Greacen 1904- 

William  Van  Valzah  Hayes 1904- 

*  Transferred  to  other  churches,     f  Died.     J  Resigned  from  the  Eldership. 


APPENDIX  D 

CLERKS  OF  SESSION  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Samuel  Osgood        1809-1813 

Dr.  Spring  [?] 1813-1821 

Horace  W.  Bulkley 1821-1829 

Horace  Holden 1829-1862 

Abner  L.  Ely 1863-1871 

Hamilton  Odell 1871-1894 

Daniel  J.  Holden       1894-1897 

Hamilton  Odell 1897- 


APPENDIX  E 

DEACONS  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

note:  when  the  second  date  is  placed  in  brackets,  the  mean- 
ing  IS  THAT  the  person   DIED   OR  WAS   DISMISSED  TO  ANOTHER 

church  at  that  time,  but  whether  he  had  continued  to 
serve  as  deacon  till  then  is  not  certain. 

Richard  Cunningham 1809-1815* 

Mr.  Hutchins 1809- ? 

William  Miller 1809- ? 

John  Stephens       1815- ? 

William  Al-Burtis 1817-[1822  or  1823$] 

John  C.  Smith 1817- ? 

William  Luyster 1823- ? 

William  Couch       1823-1834* 

John  McComb 1827-[1853j-] 

Erastus  Ellsworth 1827-1828* 

Daniel  Oakley 1828-[1840|] 

John  C.  Halsey 1828-1834* 

Nicoll  H.  Dering 1832- ? 

Shepherd  Knapp 1832-1834* 

Elijah  Mead 1832-[184lJ] 

Richard  Harding 1834- ? 

Abraham  Bokee 1834-[1851t] 

John  R.  Davison 1834-[1837t] 

Samuel  Brown 1834-[1844t] 

Peter  Naylor 1841-1856* 

Ira  Bliss 1841-1863* 

Jacob  L.  Baldwin 1841-[1886t] 

Levi  P.  Stone 1841-1856* 

Oliver  E.  Wood 1841-[1846t] 

John  C.  Tucker 1860-1881* 

Robert  Stewart I860-? 

Samuel  A.  Church 1860-1863* 

Thomas  Baton 1860-[1870t] 

John  Wilmarth 1863-[1882t] 

George  de  Forest  Lord 1863-1870* 

520 


APPENDIX  E  521 

George  W.  Comstock 1863-18891 

WiLUAM  N.  Blakeman 1870-1886* 

Theodore  Gilman 1870-r  187911 

Arthur  W.  Parsons,  Jr 1870-[1884t] 

William  D.  Barbour 1874-1892* 

Daniel  J.  Holden 1874-1886* 

Jacob  B.  T.  Hatfield 1874-  ? 

Daniel  Parish,  Jr 1874- 

Lucius  D.  BuLKLEY 1886-1896§ 

William  Burhans  Isham 1890-18971 

William  W.  Van  Valzah 1890- 

Adam  Campbell 1890-1892* 

Edward  W.  Davis 1890-1892t 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman 1892- 

WiLLiAM  F.  Dunning 1892-19071 

Edward  W.  Davis 1892- 

WiLLiAM  O.  Curtis 1894- 

WiLLiAM  Seward 1894-18955 

Charles  O.  Kimball 1894-1904* 

Charles  W.  McAlpin 1894- 

Henry  N.  CoRWiTH 1894- 

Gerard  Beekjvian  Hoppin 1894- 

GuY  Richards  McLane 1907- 

E.  D,  Murphy 1907- 

WiLLiAM  H.  Wheelock 1907- 

•  Transferred  to  the  Eldership,    t  Died,    t  Transferred  to  other  churches. 
$  Resigned. 


APPENDIX  F 

TRUSTEES  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Samuel  Osgood 1809-1813t 

John  R.  Murray 1809-1814 

John  Mills 1809-1815 

Benjamin  Egbert 1809-1815 

John  Bingham 1809-1816 

Grove  Wright 1809-1819 

Richard  Cunninghaivi 1809-1819 

John  Adams 1809-1819 

Peter  Bonnett 1809-1825t 

Rensselaer  Havens 1814-1819t 

Gabriel  Havens 1814-1825 

James  Lovett 1815-1824 

Stephen  Lockwood 1816-1825 1 

John  McComb 1816-1825 

Jonathan  Thompson 1819-1823t 

Jacob  Drake 1819-1825 

Anson  G.  Phelps 1819-1828" 

William  Couch 1819-1868 

Moses  Allen 1823-1835 

Robert  C.  Cornell 1824-18251: 

Jonathan  Thompson 1825-1834 

Benjamin  de  Forest 1825-1834 

John  C.  Halsey 1825-1837 

Stephen  Lockwood 1 826-1 827t 

Rensselaer  Havens 1826-1827 

Lockwood  de  Forest 1826-1830 

George  Douglass 1827-1830 

Peter  Bonnett 1827-1848 

Shepherd  Knapp 1829-1835t 

Robert  C.  Cornell 1 830-1 833t 

Abijah  Fisher 1830-1833 

James  McCall 1833-18361: 

Eli  Goodwin       1833-1836 

George  S.  Robbins 1834-1837 

Robert  C.  Cornell 1834-1845t 

Daniel  Parish 1835-1838 

Henry  H.  Schieffeun 1835-1841 

522 


APPENDIX   F  523 

Drake  Mills 1836-1848t 

Horace  Holden 1836-1862t 

James  McCall 1837-1843 

Paul  Spofford 1837-1864 

ThojNias  Egleston 1841-1861t 

Augustus  Whitlock 1843-1864 

Ira  Bliss 1846-1864 

Shepherd  Knapp 1847-1874 

Richard  J.  Hutchinson 1848-1851 

John  M.  Nixon 1848-1869t 

Drake  Mills 1851-1863t 

Abner  L.  Ely 1862-1871t 

Peter  Naylor 1862-1872t 

WiNTHROP  S.  Oilman 1863-1874 

Hanson  K.  Corning 1864-1867 

John  Wil]\l\rth 1864-1867 

Thomas  C.  M.  Paton 1864-1878 

Henry  Parish 1867-1876 

Frederick  W.  Downer 1867-1882 

William  Black 1868-1874t 

Edwin  D.  Morgan 1869-1883t 

John  L.  Ludlam 1871-1878 

Daniel  Judson  Holden 1873-1903 

Thomas  P.  Eldridge 1874t 

George  de  Forest  Lord 1 874-1 892f 

William  B.  Isham       1874- 

IsAAc  N.  Phelps 1875-1888t 

Daniel  Parish,  Jr 1876- 

JosiAH  G.  Holland 1878-1881t 

John  E.  Parsons 1878- 

Frederick  Billings 1882-189l| 

Shepherd  Knapp 1882-1892 

Charles  A.  Miller 1883-1897t 

Silas  H.  Witherbee        1889t 

John  A.  Stewart 1890- 

CoRNELius  B.  Gold 1891-1892 

Frederick  Billings 1892-1894 

Benjamin  H.  Bristow 1892-1894 

Robert  Olyphant       1893-1894 

Eugene  Smith 1894- 

Arthur  M.  Dodge 1894-1896 

Joseph  H.  Parsons 1894-1898 

D.  Hunter  McAlpin       1896- 

WiLLiAJi  D.  Barbour 1898- 

Charles  E.  Merrill 1898- 

t  Died  in  office.  %  Reelected  later. 


APPENDIX  G 

PRESIDENTS  OF  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES 

Samuel.  Osgood 1809-1813 

Benjamin  Egbert 1814-1815 

Rensselaer  Havens 1815-1818 

Peter  Bonnett       1818-1825 

Anson  G.  Phelps 1825-1827 

Peter  Bonnett       1827-1848 

William  Couch       1848-1868 

Shepherd  Knapp 1868-1874 

Edwin  D.  Morgan 1874-1883 

William  B.  Isham 1883-1904 

John  E.  Parsons 1904- 


I 


APPENDIX  H 

TREASURERS  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Samuel  Osgood 1809-1813 

Rensselaer  Havens 1813-1819 

Jonathan  Thompson 1819-1823 

William  Couch 1823-1826 

Benjamin  de  Forest 1826-1829 

John  C.  Halsey 1829-1836 

William  Couch       1836-1844 

Augustus  Whitlock 1844-1862 

Abner  L.  Ely 1862-1871 

John  L.  Ludlam 1871-1877 

Frederick  W.  Downer 1877-1882 

Shepherd  Knapp 1882-1892 

Charles  A.  Miller 1892-1898 

Wiluam  D.  Barbour 1898- 


APPENDIX  I 

CLERKS  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES 

John  R,  Murray 1809-1812 

John  Adams 1812-1818 

Stephen  Lockwood 1818-1825 

Moses  Allen 1825-1827 

Lockwood  de  Forest 1827-1828 

John  C.  Halsey 1828-1829 

William  Couch 1829-1831 

Shepherd  Knapp 1831-1833 

William  Couch 1833-1836 

Henry  H.  Schieffelin 1836-1841 

Thomas  Egleston 1841-1861 

Ira  Bliss 1861-1862 

John  M.  Nixon 1862-1869 

Frederick  W.  Downer 1869-1870 

Henry  Parish 1870-1871 

Frederick  W.  Downer 1871-1876 

Daniel  J.  Holden 1876-1894 

Eugene  Smith 1894- 


APPENDIX  J 

SUPERINTENDENTS  OF  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

B.  J.  Seward 1827- ? 

Erastus  Ellsworth 1832-1833 

Albert  Woodruff 1833 

B.  J.  Seward 1833-1834 

Daniel  Lord,  Jr 1834-1837 

Horace  Holden 1837-1838 

Moses  Allen 1838-1840 

Dr.  Spring 1840- ? 

Abner  L.  Ely 1846-1850 

Thomas  Davenport 1850-1851 

Abneb  L.  Ely 1851-1854  [  ?] 

(School  discontinued  1854-Nov.,  1856) 

Horace  Holden 1856-1862 

Algernon  Sidney  Sullivan ? 

H.OHLTON  Odell 1869-1876 

Arthur  W.  Parsons ? 

Ezra  M.  Kingsley 1880[?]-1881 

Hajvhlton  Obeli.  (adinU- rim)    ......  1881 

Walter  Squires  (ad  interim) 1881 

Albert  R.  Ledoux 1882-1892 

L.  Duncan  Bulkley 1892-1896 

Alfred  E.  Marling 1896-1903 

William  V.  V.  Hayes     .,,,,,..  1903- 


APPENDIX  K 

SEXTONS  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH 

Epenetus  Smith 1809-1814 

John  G.  Yonge 1814-1820 

Henry  Spies 1820-1830 

Jame8  S.  Hull 1831-1873 

Nathaniel  H.  Hodgson 1873-1897 

Charles  R.  Culyer  * 1894- 

*  Mr.  Culyer  had  been  sexton  of  the  old  Church  of  the  Covenant,  1861- 

1894. 


APPENDIX  L 

PASTORS    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    THE  COVENANT 

George  L.  Prentiss, 1862-1873 

Marvin  R.  Vincent, 1873-1888 

James  Hall  McIlvaine, 1888-1894 

George  S.  Webster,  Associate  Pastor  .     .     .  1890-1894 


APPENDIX  M 

ELDERS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT 

GuRDON  Buck 1862-1877t 

Hermon  Griffin 1 862-1865} 

Frederick  G.  Burnii.ui 1862-1865* 

Henry  D.  Notes 1865-1894 

John  P.  Crosby 1865-1876t 

Alfred  C.  Post 1866-1886t 

M.  M.  Backus 1866-1886* 

Wm.  E.  Dodge 1868-18831 

Thos.  Denny 1868-18741 

Benj.  F.  Butler 1868-1874* 

W.  H.  H.  Moore 1868-1894 

Chas.  T.  White 1874-1890t 

L.  N.  LovELL 1875-1880* 

J.  C.  Cady 1876-1894 

W.  W.  HOPPIN 1877-1894 

S.  J.  Storrs        1880-1892t 

Theron  G.  Strong 1883-1894 

Thos.  Greenleaf 1886-1890| 

J.  M.  Fairchild 1886-18881 

St.  John  Roosa 1887-18881 

Chas.  O.  Kimball 1890-1894 

Alfred  E.  Marling 1890-1894 

D.  H.  Wiesner 1890-18941 

*  Removed  from  the  city,     f  Died.     X  Transferred  to  other  churches. 


APPENDIX  N 

DEACONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT 

J.  C.  Cady 1866-1876 

T.  B.  Hidden 1866-1874 

E.  P.  Griffin 1866-1870 

Chas.  O.  Kimball 1868-1890 

Chas.  T.  White 1868-1874 

L.  N.  LovELL 1868-1874 

W.  W.  HoppiN 1868-1877 

Wm.  R.  Sheffield 1868-1869 

Henry  A.  Crosby        1868-1882 

George  B.  Bonney 1871-1882 

S.  J.  Storrs         1874-1880 

R.  G.  BusHNELL 1876-1882 

John  Keeler 1881-1894 

H.  G.  Starin 1881-1883 

T.  G.  Strong 1881-1883 

W.  O.  Curtis 1881-1894 

Wm.  Seward       1882-1894 

Lucius  Beers 1886-1892 

C.  S.  McKay 1886-1894 

D.  H.  Wiesner        1886-1894 

W.  D.  Moore 1890-1894 

Chas.  W.  McAlpin 1890-1894 

G.  B.  HoppiN 1893-1894 

Henry  N.  Cobwith 1894 


APPENDIX  O 

TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT 


Charles  Butler,  President       ....  ^1863-1894 

1863-1894 
^      1 863-1 868t 
D.  S.  Appleton rt 


Enoch  Ketcham 

Charles  H.  Leonard  


1863-1876 
1863-1872 
1863-1875 
1863-1874 
1863-1865 
1863-1874 


E.  P.  Griffin pq  / 

M.  M.  Backus *^ 

Henry  D.  Notes -P 

F.  G.  Burnham 

Benj.  F.  Butler,  Secretary  and  Treasurer 

Thos.  N.  Dale 1865-1870 

D.  H.  McAlpin 1865-1887 

Chas.  T.  Raynolds 1869-1872 

J.  H.  Carrington 1870-1876 

W.  A.  Hall 1873-1878 

Zophar  Mills 1873-18871 

Robert  Hoe,  Jr.,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  .     .  1873-1883 

Robert  Gordon 1873-1883 

Oliver  S.  Fleet 1875-1893 

Norman  N.  Dodge 1880-1886 

Joseph  R.  Skidmore 1880-1882t 

Harvey  Fisk 1882-1886 

Joseph  H.  Parsons 1883-1894 

E.  B.  Oakley 1883-1884 

Eugene  Smith,  Secretary  and  Treasurer      .     .  1883-1894 

Chas.  D.  Adams 1885-18891 

Chas.  E.  Merrill 1887-1894 

Joseph  R.  McAlpin 1887-1888t 

Arthur  M.  Dodge 1886-1894 

D.  H.  McAlpin,  Jr 1889-1894 

Oliver  B.  Jennings 1890-1893t 

Wm.  C.  Osborn 1893-1894 

Alfred  R.  Kimball 1893-1894 

*  The  first  board  of  trustees  was  elected  February  17th,  1863.  At  their 
first  meeting  Charles  Butler  was  elected  president,  and  held  that  office  till 
the  church  was  merged  in  the  Brick  Church  in  1894. 

t  Died. 

532 


APPENDIX  P 

ORIGINAL  MEMBERSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 
OF  THE  COVENANT 


Abbot,  Rebecca  S., 
Appleton,  Malvina  W., 
AspiNWALL,  Louisa  E., 
Buck,  Gurdon, 
Buck,  Henrietta  E., 
Buck,  Amelia  H., 
Buck,  Susan  M,, 
Burger,  Mary, 
Burger,  Sarah  Augusta, 
Burger,  Sophia, 
Butler,  William  Allen, 
Butler,  Mary  R., 
Butler,  Eliza  Ogden, 
Blttler,  Lydia  Allen, 
Butler,  Benjamin  F., 
Butler,  Ellen  G., 
Butler,  Charles, 
Butler,  Eliza  A., 
Butler,  Emily  Ogden, 
Butler,  Eliza  A., 
Betts,  George  F., 
Betts,  Ellen  P., 
Bleecker,  F.  Matilda, 
Bronson,  Anna  E., 
Burnham,  Frederick  G., 
Cady,  J.  Cleveland, 
Cannon,  Mary  B., 
Corning,  Jane  B., 
Curtis,  Edwin, 
Curtis,  Mary, 
Curtis,  Rebecca, 
Curtis,  Phebe  Eliza, 
Curtis,  William  O., 


De  Forest,  Margaret, 
Donaghe,  James, 
Donaghe,  Antoinette, 
Donaghe,  W.  R., 
Griffin,  Hermon, 
Griffin,  Louisa  G., 
Griffin,  Edward  P., 
JuDD,  David  W., 
Ketch  AM,  Enoch, 
Ketcham,  E.  R.  Van  A., 
Kimball,  Horace  E., 
Kimball,  Horace, 
Kimball,  Mary  D., 
Leeds,  Catharine  G., 
Leeds,  Mary  Eliza, 
Leonard,  Charles  H., 
Leonard,  Elizabeth, 
LocKwooD,  Roe, 
Lock  wood,  Julia  G., 
LocKwooD,  Louisa  M., 
LocKwooD,  Elizabeth  R., 
Lord,  Daniel  D., 
Lord,  Mary  H., 
McCuRDY,  Robert  H., 
McCuRDY,  Gertrude  M., 
McCuRDY,  Robert  Wolcott, 
McCuRDY,  Sarah  Lord, 
Merritt,  Frances, 
NoYES,  William  Curtis, 

NOYES,  JlTLIA  F., 

NoYEs,  Emily  C, 
Prentiss,  Elizabeth, 
Quick,  A.  J,, 


533 


534  APPENDIX  P 


Rhinelander,  Frances  D.,  Woolsey,  Abbey  H.,  j 

SCHERMERHORN,  CaTHARINE  G.,         WoOLSEY,  GeORGIANA  M.,  J 

SCHERMERHORN,  LoUISA  N.,  WoOLSEY,   JaNE  S.,  ] 

Sims,  Elizabeth,  Woolsey,  Charles  W.,  » 

Skinner,  Frances  L,,  Woolsey,  Theodore  B.,  < 

Skinner,  Mary  D.,  Woolsey,  Catharine  Cecil, 

Skinner,  Helen,  Woodworth,  D.  Austin, 

Smith,  Elizabeth  L.,  Woodworth,  Caroline  Reed.  ' 
Woolsey,  Eliza  J., 


•it 


I  :^ 


APPENDIX  Q 

PASTORS  OF  THE   BRICK  CHURCH   MISSION,   AND  OF 
ITS  SUCCESSOR,  CHRIST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

John  Kimball 1859-1862 

A.  E.  RuLiFSON 1862-1864 

GovELLO  B.  Bell 1865-1867 

Joseph  J.  Lampe  (installed,  1888*)    ....  1867-1895 

Richard  R.  Wightman 1897-1900 

James  M.  Farr 1901- 

*  When  the  chapel  became  Christ  Church.    From  that  time  all  the 
pastors  were  installed. 


f 


(! 


' 


I 


APPENDIX  R 

PASTORS  OF  THE  COVENANT  CHAPEL,  AND  OF  ITS 

SUCCESSOR,  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  COVENANT  J 

I 

Howard  A.  Talbot 1875-1881 

Henry  T.  McEwen 1881-1887 

Edwin  E.  Rogers 1887-1889  | 

George  S.  Webster  (installed*)        ....     1890-  5 

*  In  1890  as  associate  of  Dr.  Mcllvaine  in  the  old  Church  of  the  Cove-  | 

nant,  and  again  in  1894  as  pastor  of  the  present  Church  of  the  Covenant.  ; 


APPENDIX  S 

NAMES  OF  PEW-OWNERS  IN  1853, 

WHO,  AT  A  CONGREGATIONAL  MEETING  ON  FEBRUARY  IST  OF  THAT 
YEAR,  REQUESTED  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  "tO  TAKE  THE  NECES- 
SARY STEPS  TO  DISPOSE  OF  THEIR  CHURCH  PROPERTY  IN  THE  SECOND 
WARD,  WITH  A  VIEW  TO  SECURE  A  NEW  LOCATION  BETTER 
SUITED  TO  THE  PRESENT  WANTS  OF  THE  PEOPLE." 

NAMES  OF  OWNERS  NOS.  OF  PEWS 

Horace  Holden        47  and  48 

Drake  Mills 6 

Andrew  Whitlock 14  and  40 

Wm.  H,  de  Forest 131 

Russell  Dart 122 

Moses  Allen 89  and  62 

Abner  L.  Ely 11 

T.  and  J.  S.  Davenport 65 

John  C.  Tucker 98 

Mary  Murray 30 

William  Couch 8  and  54 

Peter  Naylor 100 

Daniel  Lord 16  and  19 

Paul  Spofford 86 

S.  ROBBINS 127 

Gardiner  Spring 134 

Wm.  H.  Bonnett 83 

Chas.  Mills 64 

Mrs.  p.  Bonnett 55 

Mrs.  G.  E.  van  Desburgh 84 

RoBT.  Adams 63 

Estate  of  J.  C.  Halsey,  dee'd 81 

Moses  A.  Hoppock       7 

Estate  of  Wm.  Adee,  dee'd 37 

D.  Thompson 44 

J.  B.  Varnum 104 

Estate  of  Lucretia  Morrell,  dee'd     ....  78 

Thos.  Egleston 136 

637 


538  APPENDIX   S 

names  of  owners  nos.  of  pews 

Dan.  Bonnett 23 

S.  Knapp,  by  G.  Lee  Knapp,  Atty 85,  87, 139 

Eliza  Downer 130 

Estate  of  A.  Girard,  dec'd 10 

Estate  of  S.  Fulton,  dec'd 46 

Daniel  H.  Magee 21 

Estate  of  Ellis  Potter,  dec'd 41 

George  J.  Cornell 9 

John  McComb 95 

Sam'l  Marsh 66 

j.  woodhead 88 

Jas.  W.  Mills,  for  Mrs.  Mills 93 

Estate  of  Mrs.  Eliza  Archer,  dec'd 68 

Maria  McElwain 2 

G.  R.  Downing 133 

M.  Allison 126 

John  P.  Tredwell 59  and  60 

R.  Cheeseborough 15 

Daniel  Parish 97 

Catherine  McCollick 70,  gallery 

Estate  of  P.  Judson,  dec'd 76 

Joseph  Bartlett 13,  gallery 

Estate  of  P.  Hawes,  dec'd 50 

R.  J.  Hutchinson 92 

Estate  of  Eli  Hart,  dec'd 101 

E.  C.  Delavan 52 

John  R.  Davison 106 

a.  p.  cummings 103 

Daniel  Oakley 96 

Calvin  H.  Merry Ill 

Joseph  Kernochon 135 

John  West 141 

Geo.  Smith 64,  gallery 

Estate  of  Jonas  Addams 108 

Eli  Goodwin 45 

John  Saxton 79 

B.  K.  HOBABT 115 


APPENDIX   T 

"FORM  OF  ADMISSION  INTO  THE  BRICK  PRESBYTE- 
RIAN CHURCH," 

RECORDED  IN  THE  SESSION  MINUTES,  APRIL  3d,  1829,  AS  THE  "PRO- 
FESSION AND  COVENANT,"  IN  USE  IN  THE  CHURCH,  BUT  NEVER 
BEFORE  ENTERED  ON  THE  MINUTES. 

You  have  presented  yourselves  in  this  pubhc  manner,  before  God,  to 
dedicate  yourselves  to  his  service,  and  to  incorporate  yourselves  with 
his  visible  people.  You  are  about  to  profess  supreme  love  to  God,  sin- 
cere contrition  for  aU  your  sins,  and  faith  unfeigned  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  [Relying  on  the  strength  of  divine  grace,  you  are  about  to  enter 
into  a  solemn  covenant  to  receive  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  as 
they  are  offered  in  the  gospel,  and  to  walk  in  all  the  commandments  and 
ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless.]  *  We  trust  you  have  well  consid- 
ered the  nature  of  these  professions  and  engagements.  The  transaction 
is  solemn,  and  will  be  attended  with  eternal  consequences.  God  and 
holy  angels  are  witnesses.  Your  vows  will  be  recorded  in  heaven,  to  be 
exhibited  on  your  trial  at  the  last  day. 

Yet  be  not  overwhelmed  with  these  reflections.  In  the  name  of  Christ 
you  may  come  boldly  to  the  God  of  grace,  and  if  you  have  sincere  de- 
sires to  be  his,  may  venture  thus  unalterably  to  commit  yourselves,  and 
trust  in  him  for  strength  to  perform  your  vows. 

Attend  now  to  the  Profession  and  Covenant. 

In  this  public  manner  you  do  humbly  confess  and  bewail  the  original 
and  total  depravity  of  your  nature,  the  past  enmity  of  your  heart  against 
God,  the  unbelief  which  has  led  you  to  reject  a  Saviour,  and  the  mani- 
fold transgressions  of  your  lives: — all  which  sins  you  do  condemn  and 
in  your  purpose  forever  renounce. 

And  now  in  the  presence  of  God,  his  holy  angels,  and  this  assembly, 
you  do,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own  hearts,  solemnly  avouch  the  Lord 
Jehovah  to  be  your  God  and  Portion  and  the  object  of  your  supreme 
love  and  delight ;  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  your  Saviour  from  sin  and 
death,  your  Prophet  to  instruct  you,  your  Priest  to  atone  and  intercede 

*  All  passages  in  brackets  are  omitted  in  a  manuscript  copy  in  the 
hand-writing  of  Dr.  Spring. 

§39 


540  APPENDIX  T 

for  you  [your  Righteousness  to  justify  you],  your  King  to  rule,  protect, 
and  enrich  you;  and  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  your  Sanctifier,  Comforter, 
and  Guide,  to  whom  only  you  look  for  light,  holiness,  and  peace. 

To  this  Triune  God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  you  do  now 
without  reserve  give  yourselves  away  in  a  Covenant  never  to  be  revoked, 
to  be  his  willing  servants  forever,  to  observe  all  his  commandments  and 
ordinances,  in  the  sanctuary,  in  the  family,  and  in  the  closet.  You  do 
also  bind  yourselves  by  covenant  to  this  church,  to  watch  over  us  in  the 
Lord,  to  seek  our  peace  and  edification,  and  to  submit  to  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline  *  of  the  gospel  as  here  administered.  This  you 
severally  profess  and  engage. 

(The  ordinance  of  baptism,  if  not  previously  received,  will  here  be 
administered.) 

In  consequence  of  these  professions  and  promises,  we  f  affectionately 
receive  you  as  members  of  this  church  and  in  the  name  of  Christ  declare 
you  entitled  to  all  its  visible  privileges.  [We  welcome  you  to  this  fel- 
lowship with  us  in  the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  and  on  our  part  engage  to 
watch  over  you  and  seek  your  edification  as  long  as  you  shall  continue 
among  us.  Should  you  have  occasion  to  remove,  it  will  be  your  duty  to 
seek,  and  ours  to  grant,  a  recommendation  to  another  church,  for  here- 
after you  cannot  withdraw  from  the  watch  and  communion  of  the 
saints  without  a  breach  of  covenant.  And  now,  beloved  in  the  Lord,]  | 
let  it  be  impressed  on  your  minds  that  you  have  entered  into  solemn 
relations  which  you  can  never  renounce,  and  from  which  you  can  never 
escape.  Wherever  you  are,  whether  continuing  among  us  or  seeking  the 
same  privileges  elsewhere,  these  vows  will  remain.  §  They  will  follow 
you  to  the  Bar  of  God;  and  in  whatever  world  you  may  be  fixed,  will 
abide  on  you  to  eternity.  You  can  never  again  be  as  you  have  been. 
You  have  unalterably  committed  yourselves,  and  henceforth  must  be 
the  servants  of  God.  Hereafter  the  eyes  of  the  world  will  be  upon  you; 
and  as  you  conduct  yourselves,  so  religion  will  be  honored  or  dis- 
graced. If  you  walk  worthy  of  your  profession,  you  will  be  a  credit  and 
a  comfort  to  us;  but  if  it  be  otherwise,  you  will  be  to  us  a  grief  of  heart 
and  a  vexation. 

"But,  beloved,! I  we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  you,  and  things 

*  In  the  MS.  of  Dr.  Spring  this  reads  "government,  discipline,  and 
ministrations." 

t  In  the  MS.  of  Dr.  Spring  this  continues,  "we  thus  publicly  declare  you 
to  be  members  of  this  church  and  entitled  to  all  its  visible  privileges." 

X  In  place  of  the  bracketed  words  the  MS.  of  Dr.  Spring  has,  "and 
while  we  thus  welcome  you  to  this  fellowship  with  us  in  the  blessing  of  the 
gospel." 

$  In  the  MS.  of  Dr.  Spring  the  following  sentence  is  here  added,  "they 
will  bind  you  in  whatsoever  part  of  the  earth  you  dwell." 

II  Dr.  Spring  herein  inserts,  in  the  Lord. 


APPENDIX  T  541 

that  accompany  salvation,  though  we  thus  speak."  May  the  Lord  sup- 
port and  guide  you  through  a  transitory  life,  and  after  this  warfare  is 
accomplished,  receive  you  and  us  to  that  blessed  Church  where  our  love 
shall  be  forever  perfect  and  our  joy  forever  full.    Amen. 

With  slight  verbal  changes  and  omissions  this  form  was  still  in  use  in 
1869. 


APPENDIX  U 

ORDER  OF  BAPTISM  OF  CHILDREN,  1866 

In  presenting  this  child  to  God  in  baptism,  you  avouch  the  Lord 
Jehovah  to  be  your  God,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  your  Redeemer, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  your  Sanctifier.  You  do  hereby  personally 
covenant,  if  God  spare  the  life  of  this  child,  to  teach  it  to  read  his  Holy 
Word,  to  pray  with  it,  to  pray  for  it,  and  to  teach  it  to  pray;  to  instruct 
it  in  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion,  an  excellent  summary  of  which 
you  will  find  in  the  catechisms  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  and  the 
Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  to  walk  before  it  in 
all  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel;  and  by  the  strength  of  divine  grace,  to 
train  it  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  This  you  sev- 
erally covenant  and  promise. 

Then  follows  the  prayer  and  the  baptism. 


APPENDIX  V 

ORDER  OF  THE  COMMUNION  SERVICE,  1875 

1.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  the  collection  for  the  poor  of  the  church 
shall  be  taken  up. 

2.  After  the  collection  shall  have  been  received,  the  minister  shall 
announce  in  substance  that,  "this  church  is  now  about  to  celebrate  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  that  a  cordial  invitation  is  ex- 
tended to  all  persons  in  good  standing  in  other  evangelical  churches  to 
remain  and  take  part  in  this  service."  And  he  shall  also  add  that  if  any 
communicants  are  not  now  provided  with  seats  on  the  floor  of  the 
church,  they  are  requested  to  find  places  for  themselves  at  the  close  of 
the  singing  of  the  following  hymn. 

3.  When  the  singing  shall  have  commenced,  the  two  elders  who  are 
to  sit  on  either  side  of  the  minister  during  the  service  shall  immediately 
remove  the  cloth  from  the  table,*  folding  it  carefully  and  placing  it  out 
of  sight  upon  the  bench  in  front  of  the  pews.  They  shall  then  resume 
their  former  seats,  f 

4.  Before  the  close  of  the  hymn,  the  minister  shall  descend  from  the 
pulpit  and  take  his  seat  at  the  table:  at  the  same  time  the  two  elders 
who  are  to  sit  beside  him  shall  also  take  their  seats. 

5.  The  minister  shall  make  an  address,  if  he  shall  think  proper,  and 
then  commence  the  service  by  quoting  the  words  of  institution:  "Our 
Lord,  on  that  same  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  took  bread,  and 
when  he  had  given  thanks  he  brake  it  and  gave  it  to  his  disciples":  and 
he  shall  add,  "Let  us,  in  imitation  of  his  example,  give  thanks."  He 
shall  then  offer  prayer. 

6.  Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  prayer  those  elders  and  dea- 
cons who  are  to  officiate  at  the  table  shall  take  their  places,  standing  in 
front  of  it  while  the  minister  breaks  the  bread.  | 

7.  When  the  bread  is  broken,  the  minister  shall  say:  "When  our 
Lord  had  broken  the  bread,  he  gave  it  to  his  disciples,  as  I,  ministering 

*  Until  the  service  a  large  table-cloth  entirely  covered  the  table  with  all 
that  stood  upon  it.    This  custom  continued  till  1895. 

t  It  was  customary  on  Communion  Sunday  for  all  the  elders  and  dea- 
cons to  sit  together  in  the  "  amen  "  pews. 

t  The  bread  was  in  large  loaves,  so  cut  that  they  could  be  readily  broken 
and  placed  in  the  plates. 

543 


544  APPENDIX  V 

in  his  name,  give  this  bread  to  you,  a  professed  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ: 
'  Take,  eat :  this  is  my  body  which  is  broken  for  you ;  this  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me. ' "  While  repeating  this  passage,  he  shall  first  present  the 
bread  to  the  two  elders  sitting  beside  him,  and  shall  then  distribute  the 
plates  among  the  oflSciating  elders  and  deacons,  who  shall  forthwith 
pass  the  bread  to  the  congregation — the  elder  or  deacon  standing  at 
the  extreme  right  of  the  minister  first  offering  it  to  him. 

8.  After  the  distribution  of  the  bread  the  minister  shall  say:  "If  any 
communicants  have  been  omitted  in  the  distribution  of  the  bread,  they 
will  please  signify  it  by  rising."  If  any  shall  rise  on  either  side,  the 
bread  shall  be  served  to  them  by  the  elder  sitting  on  that  side  of  the 
minister.  If  none  shall  rise,  the  two  elders  who  sit  beside  the  minister 
shall  distribute  the  bread  to  the  other  elders  and  deacons,  and  shall 
then  immediately  remove  the  bread  from  the  table  *  and  resume  their 
places. 

9.  The  minister  shall  then  offer  a  prayer  before  dispensing  the  cup, 
and  immediately  upon  the  close  of  the  prayer  the  oflSciating  elders  and 
deacons  shall  resume  their  places  before  the  table,  standing  while  the 
minister  pours  out  the  wine. 

10.  The  minister  shall  then  dispense  the  cup  to  the  two  elders  who 
sit  beside  him,  and  then  pass  the  same  to  the  officiating  elders  and  dea- 
cons, saying,  "After  the  same  manner,  also,  he  took  the  cup,  when  he 
had  supped,  saying,  'This  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood:  this 
do  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it  in  remembrance  of  me.  For  as  often  as  ye  eat 
this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come.'" 
Upon  receiving  the  cup,  the  officiating  elders  and  deacons  shall  pass  it 
to  the  congregation,  the  elder  or  deacon  standing  on  the  extreme  left 
of  the  minister  first  offering  it  to  him. 

11.  After  the  dispensation  of  the  cup,  the  same  forms  shall  be  ob- 
served which  followed  the  distribution  of  the  bread. 

12.  The  minister  shall  then,  if  he  think  fit,  make  another  address,  and 
give  out  the  concluding  hymn.  After  the  hymn,  he  shall  pronounce  the 
following  benediction  (Hebrews  13  :  20,  21):  "Now  the  God  of  peace 
that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd 
of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  make  you 
perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in  you  that  which  is 
well  pleasing  in  his  sight,  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.    Amen." 

*  Both  the  large  platters  and  the  plates  were  placed  on  the  bench  in 
front  of  the  pews.    This  custom  was  discontinued  in  1895. 


APPENDIX  W 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  BRICK  CHURCH  SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL,  1833 

Preamble 

The  Teachers  and  Conductors  of  Sunday-school  No.  3,  in  New 
York,  would  feel  that  everything  in  the  revealed  purposes  of  God,  every- 
thing in  his  promises,  all  indications  of  his  providence,  invite  and  urge 
us  on  in  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged.  The  millions  that  are  fam- 
ishing for  want  of  the  Bread  of  Life  in  heathen  lands,  and  the  urgent  de- 
mand for  intelligent  and  efficient  services  in  the  cause  of  Christ  in  our 
own  country,  admonish  us  that  there  is  pressing  need  of  unremitting 
labor  in  training  the  young  for  the  work  of  the  Lord.  Be  this,  then, 
the  teachers'  aim:  "  To  win  souls  to  Jesus  Christ;  and  to  prepare  them 
for  usefulness  in  his  kingdom." 

May  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  fit  us  for  the  responsible  duties 
we  have  assumed,  and  keep  us  in  the  observance  of  the  following 

CONSTITUTION 


This  school  shall  consist  of 

1st.  A  Superintendent,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  arrange  the  classes, 
preserve  order,  and  to  determine  all  questions  that  may  occur  between 
different  teachers,  and  between  teachers  and  their  classes. 

2d.  An  Assistant  Superintendent,  who  shall  ordinarily  teach  a  Bible 
Class,  and  take  the  place  of  the  Superintendent  when  he  is  absent. 

3d.  A  Female  Superintendent,  who  shall  aid  in  the  government  of 
the  School. 

4th.  A  Librarian,  who  shall  supply  the  School  from  time  to  time  with 
catalogues  of  the  books  in  the  Library,  deliver  books  to  the  teachers 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  school,  keep  an  accurate  account  of  the  vol- 
umes received  and  issued  from  the  Library,  and  hold  himself  responsible 
for  books  not  accounted  for. 

5th.  A  Secretary,  who  shall  keep  full  and  accurate  records  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  School,  aggregate  quarterly  returns  of  which  shall  be 
approved  in  teachers'  meeting  and  read  to  the  School, 

545 


546  APPENDIX  W 

6th.  Teachers,  who  shall  be  punctual  in  attendance,  faithful  in  the 
study  of  the  lessons,  prompt  in  visiting  absentees,  and  laborious  in  en- 
deavors to  enlighten  the  minds  and  improve  the  hearts  of  the  youth 
committed  to  their  care. 

7th.  Scholars,  who  shall  be  punctual,  obedient,  and  studious  during 
school  hours,  and  silent  and  respectful  in  the  house  of  God. 

II 

The  officers  of  this  School  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot  once  in  each  year 
at  a  teachers'  meeting  in  the  month  of  April,  and  oftener  if  need  be;  and 
the  teachers  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Superintendent  upon  every  elec- 
tion of  that  officer. 

m 

Books  shall  be  furnished  upon  one  Sabbath  to  the  male  department, 
and  upon  the  succeeding  Sabbath  to  the  female  department,  alternately; 
deliverable  in  the  afternoon,  upon  condition  of  punctuality  and  the  safe 
return  of  the  previous  volume  in  the  morning.  Teachers  shall  make  a 
list  of  the  books  desired  for  their  scholars,  and  be  responsible  for  them 
to  the  School. 

IV 

This  Constitution  may  be  amended  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  present  in  teachers'  meeting. 

The  Superintendent  expects  of  the  Teachers, 

1st.  That  they  will  be  in  their  seats  five  minutes  before  the  hour  of 
opening,  ready  to  greet  their  scholars  as  they  appear,  approbating 
punctuality  and  reproving  delinquency,  and  that  they  will  not  unnec- 
essarily leave  their  seats  during  school  hours. 

2d.  That  they  will  always  accompany  their  classes  to  the  door  of  the 
church,  maintaining  order  among  the  scholars,  and  in  cases  of  necessary 
absence  from  the  school,  a  teacher  will  feel  it  to  be  his  [or  her]  duty  to 
provide  a  substitute. 

3d.  He  still  further  expects  that  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell  there  will 
always  be  perfect  silence  throughout  the  School,  and  that  this  silence 
will  prevail  during  the  opening  and  closing  exercises  of  the  School. 

4th.  In  conclusion,  he  expects  no  idleness  in  any  class  for  a  moment, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  that  teachers  will  be  prompt,  faithful,  and  punctual 
in  everything  relating  to  their  classes,  and  that  they  will  insist  upon  the 
same  in  every  one  of  their  scholars. 


APPENDIX  X 

SUPREME  COURT  ORDER 

At  a  special  term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  held  at  the  City  Hall,  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  February,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-three. 

Present,  Henry  P.  Edwards,  Justice. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Petition  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Brick  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  to  sell  their  church  property  in 
the  Second  Ward. 

On  reading  and  filing  the  petition  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Brick 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  under  the  corporate 
seal,  and  duly  verified  by  the  oath  of  William  Couch,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  said  Corporation,  and  on  motion  of  Mr.  Horace 
Holden,  of  counsel  for  said  petitioners. 

It  is  ordered,  that  the  said  petitioners  be,  and  they  are  hereby  author- 
ized to  sell  and  convey  all  their  church  property,  lands,  and  tenements, 
situate  in  the  Second  Ward  of  the  City  of  New  York,  bounded  by  Park 
Row,  Beekman  Street,  Nassau  Street,  and  Spruce  Street,  and  either  at 
public  or  private  sale,  subject  to  the  conditions  and  restrictions  con- 
tained in  the  grant,  under  which  they  hold  the  same,  and  to  execute,  to 
the  purchaser  or  purchasers  thereof,  good  and  sufficient  conveyances 
therefor;  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  such  sale  to  the  purchase  of  other 
lands  in  said  city,  and  to  the  erection  of  a  new  church  edifice  thereon, 
agreeably  to  the  prayer  of  the  said  petition;  but  the  purchaser  or  pur- 
chasers thereof  shall  not  be  required,  or  bound  to  see  to  the  application 
of  the  purchase  moneys,  to  any  of  the  purposes  specified  in  said  petition. 

Richard  B.  Connolly,  Clerk. 


APPENDIX  Y 

RULES  FOR  THE  CARE  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE 
CHRIST  CHURCH  MEMORIAL  BUILDINGS  AND  THE 
WORK  CARRIED  ON  IN  CONNECTION  THEREWITH 

It  is  expressly  understood  that  the  following  plan  shall  not  apply  to 
such  of  the  internal  affairs  of  Christ  Church  as  are  legally  under  the 
control  of  its  session  or  trustees  nor  to  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Sick 
Children's  Aid  Society,  including  its  finances,  constitution  and  election 
of  officers. 

1. — The  Committee 

its  purpose  and  name 

The  general  control  and  management  of  Christ  Church  Memorial 
Buildings  and  of  all  activities  carried  on  in  the  Church  House,  shall  be 
in  the  hands  of  a  Committee  to  be  known  as  the  Christ  Church  Memo- 
rial Buildings  Committee,  but  the  session  of  the  Brick  Church  in  respect 
to  spiritual  matters  and  the  board  of  trustees  in  respect  to  other  mat- 
ters may  modify,  change  or  annul  the  action  of  the  Committee. 

2. — Constitution  of  the  Committee 

(a)  Membership.  The  Committee  shall  consist  of  the  following  per- 
sons: The  pastors  of  the  Brick  Church  and  of  Christ  Church;  an  elder 
from  the  Brick  Church  and  one  from  Christ  Church  appointed  by  their 
respective  sessions;  the  superintendent  of  the  Christ  Church  Sunday- 
school,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  session  of  the  Brick  Church;  the 
presidents  of  the  Christ  Church  Mens'  Club,  the  Boys'  Club,  the  Bab- 
cock  Club,  the  Van  Dyke  Club,  the  Junior  Department  and  the  Sick 
Children's  Aid  Society;  the  general  treasurer  (hereinafter  provided 
for)  and  the  treasurer  of  the  Brick  Church,  and  the  secretary  of  the 
Committee. 

(6)  Advisory  Members:  The  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant 
and  the  assistant  ministers  of  the  Brick  Church  and  of  Christ  Church 
shall  be  entitled  to  attend  the  meetings  and  take  part  in  the  discussions 
of  the  Committee  but  without  a  vote.    (This,  however,  does  not  exclude 

548 


APPENDIX   Y  549 

them  from  being  members  in  full  of  the  Committee  by  virtue  of  some 
other  office.) 

(c)  Occasional  Representation:  Representatives  of  organizations  or 
departments  of  work  in  Christ  Church  House,  not  directly  represented 
on  the  Committee,  may  be  present  by  invitation  while  business  of  special 
concern  to  them  is  under  discussion.  Such  delegates  shall  not,  however, 
have  voting  power. 

(d)  Enlargement  of  the  Committee:  The  Committee  shall  have  power 
from  time  to  time  to  add  to  its  membership  representatives  of  such  or- 
ganizations or  departments  of  the  work  in  Christ  Church  House  as  shall 
have  gained  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  representation,  and  to  drop 
from  its  membership  officers  of  any  society  which  has  ceased  to  be  active 
in  the  work  under  the  supervision  of  this  Committee. 

3. — Organization  of  the  Committee 

(a)  The  officers  of  the  Committee  shall  be  a  Chairman,  the  General 
Treasurer,  and  a  Secretary. 

The  Chairman  shall  be  elected  by  the  Committee.  He  shall  preside 
at  Committee  meetings,  and  shall  have  general  supervision  over  the 
whole  work  of  the  Church  House,  acting  as  the  executive  officer  for  the 
Committee.    The  first  Chairman  shall  be  the  pastor  of  Christ  Church. 

The  General  Treasurer  shall  be  appointed  by  the  session  of  the  Brick 
Church.  He  shall  receive  all  funds  contributed  by  the  Brick  Church  or 
coming  from  other  sources  for  the  general  work.  Appropriations  made 
by  the  Committee  to  the  several  organizations  and  departments  shall  be 
paid  by  him  to  the  respective  treasurers,  whose  accounts  he  shall  annu- 
ally audit.  He  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee,  make  the 
general  payments  connected  with  the  work,  and  shall  have  charge  of  the 
internal  maintenance  of  the  buildings.  No  appropriation  or  expendi- 
ture of  money  shall  be  made,  however,  without  the  approval  of  the 
General  Treasurer.  He  shall  submit  his  accounts  annually  to  the  ses- 
sion and  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church. 

The  Secretary  shall  be  elected  by  the  Committee  either  from  among 
or  from  outside  of  its  members.  It  shall  be  his  duty  to  preside  at  meet- 
ings in  the  absence  of  the  chairman,  to  keep  the  minutes  of  all  meetings, 
to  send  notices  of  meetings  and  to  perform  the  duties  usual  to  the  office. 

(6)  Meetings:  The  Committee  shall  meet  regularly  once  a  month 
from  October  to  May,  and  at  other  times  upon  call  of  the  chairman  or 
of  any  three  members. 

(c)  Quorum:   Five  regular  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 


550  APPENDIX   Y 

4. — Duties  and  Powers 

(a)  Management  and  use  of  Buildings:  The  Committee  shall  manage 
the  Memorial  Buildings  and  shall  determine  and  prescribe  the  use  of  the 
various  parts  thereof.  The  treasurer  of  the  Brick  Church  and  the 
general  treasurer,  together  with  the  pastor  of  Christ  Church  and  the 
superintendent  of  Christ  Church  Sunday-school  shall  be  a  Special  Sub- 
Committee  on  maintenance  of  the  buildings  and  the  employment  of 
house  servants,  and  shall  report  to  the  general  Committee. 

(b)  Control  of  Activities:  The  Committee  shall  exercise  general  con- 
trol over  the  various  activities  carried  on  in  the  Memorial  Buildings.  It 
shall  receive  reports  from  the  different  organizations  and  departments, 
shall  receive  and  act  upon  suggestions  regarding  the  work  and  shall  make 
such  recommendations  or  regulations  as  may  be  necessary.  The  Com- 
mittee shall  in  every  way  seek  to  promote  the  harmony  and  efficiency  of 
the  work  as  a  whole.  The  Committee  shall  appoint  or  approve  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  presidents  of  the  various  departments  of  the  work,  and 
shall  engage  all  paid  workers  connected  therewith,  except  as  otherwise 
provided  for  herein  or  by  the  Committee.  All  Constitutions  or  rules  of 
management  of  the  different  departments  and  organizations  shall  be 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Committee.  Details  of  management  shall 
be  left  to  the  proper  officers  of  the  different  departments  and  organiza- 
tions, but  the  Committee  shall  have  power  to  veto  any  forms  of  activity 
and  to  prescribe  such  activities  as  in  its  judgment  are  necessary,  or 
advisable. 

(c)  Estimates:  Prior  to  the  December  meeting  in  each  year  there 
shall  be  presented  to  the  Committee  by  the  heads  of  departments  and 
organizations  and  by  the  general  treasurer  estimates  of  the  sums  of 
money  needed  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  Committee  shall  examine 
these  estimates  together  with  such  estimate  as  shall  be  presented  on  the 
part  of  Christ  Church,  and  on  the  basis  of  them  prepare  a  general  bud- 
get which  shall  be  submitted  to  the  session  of  the  Brick  Church. 

(d)  Expenditures:  The  Committee,  from  the  money  received  by  the 
general  treasurer  shall  make  appropriations  to  the  various  depart- 
ments and  organizations,  and  shall  authorize  expenditures  for  the  in- 
ternal maintenance  and  repair  of  the  buildings  and  for  the  salaries  of 
officials  and  employees  except  the  pastor  of  Christ  Church. 

(e)  Reports:  The  Committee  shall  at  any  time  make  reports  to  the 
session  and  board  of  trustees  of  the  Brick  Church  at  their  requests 
respectively. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbott,   Rev.   Lyman,   D.D.,   388, 

note 
Abbott,  Rebecca  S.,  533 
Adams,  Charles  D.,  417,  532 
Adams,  John,   112,   197,  252,  517, 

522,  526;  also  opposite  122 
Adams,  John  G.,  375,  note 
Adams,  Robert,  537 
Adams,  Dr.  William,  291,  note,  316 
Addams,  Jonas,  538 
Adee,  AVilliam,  537 
Admission  to  church  membership, 

174  /.,  539-541 
Affiliated   churches,    31,  note,  401, 

444.    See  also  Christ  Church  and 

Covenant,  Church  of  the 
Agnew,  A.  Gifford,  341 
Al-Burtis,  William,  520 
Alden,  Marcus,  178 
Allen,  Charlotte,  199 
Allen,  Moses,    198,   252,   271,   302, 

499,  517,  522,  526,  527,  537 
Allen,  Priscilla,  199 
Allen,  Hon.  Stephen,  241 
Allison,  M.,  538 
American  Board  of  Commissioners 

for  Foreign  Missions,    124,   237, 

245-247,  249  /. 
American  Home  Missionary  Society, 

244  /.,  248  /. 
Anderson,  Alexander,  69,  note 
Anderson,  Rev.  James,  7-9 
"Announcements,"  The,  398 
Appleton,  D.  S.,  532 
Appleton,  Malvina  W.,  533 
Archer,  Mrs.  Eliza,  538 
Arden,  Thomas,  opposite  262 
Ash,  Thomas,  opposite  262 
Ash,  William,  opposite  262 
A-spinwall,  Louisa  E.,  533 
Atterbury,  Rev.  Wallace,  D.D.,  417 

B 

Babcock,  Rev.  Maltbie  D.,  D.D.,  ac- 
cepts call,  454-456;  early  life  of, 
456  /. ;  first  pastorate  of,  457  /. ; 
begins  work  in  New  York,  458- 


462;    his  preaching,  459  /.,  462; 
his  personality,  462  /.;    pastoral 
work,    463,    466;     his    industry, 
464  /. ;  his  interest  in  the  affiliated 
churches,  465-467;    in  the  Men's 
Association,  467;    his  first  year 
completed,  468  /.;   his  pilgrimage 
to  Palestine,  469  /.;    his  sickness 
and  death,   470;    results  of  his 
work,  471-473;   present  music  of 
the  church  his  legacy,  482;    the 
new  Christ  Church  a  memorial  to, 
487;  published  works  of,499,  502; 
see  also  516 
Backus,  Henry  A.,  411,  note 
Backus,  Mancer  M.,  418,  530,  532 
Baker  and  Scribner,  140 
Baldwin,  Jacob  L.,  520 
Ball,  Dr.  Brayton,  417 
Baptism,  81,    176,  note,  327,  note, 

542 
Barber,  William,  69,  note 
Barbour,  Norman,  485,  note 
Barbour,  William  D.,  342,  346,  375, 
note,  485,  note,  518,  521,  523,  525 
Barbour,  Mrs.  William  D.,  330,  note 

395,  note 
Bartlett,  Joseph,  538 
Bayard,  Samuel,  66,  note 
Beebe,  Mrs.,  330,  v/yte 
Beecher,  Rev.  Lyman,  118  /. 
Beekman  Street  site,  17-23,  80,  251- 

269,  272,  547 
Beers,  Lucius,  531 
Bell,  Rev.  Govello  B.,  345  /,  535 
Benevolences  of  Brick  Church,  40  /., 
85-87,    231-239,    299,    334-337, 
392  /.,  452,  491.    See  also  Collec- 
tions 
Benevolent    societies,    relation    of 

Brick  Church  to,  87,  233-236 
Benevolent  work  of  Brick  Church, 
36,  203-211,  328-334,  364,  367, 
370,    384,    392-398.      See    also 
Brick  Church  Mission,  etc. 
Bennett,  George  A.,  300,  note,  351, 

note,  518 
Bergstresser,  Charles  M.,  398,  note 
Berian,  Nicholas,  69 
Bethune,  Mrs.,  212 


?>^-^^ 


554 


INDEX 


Betts,  Ellen  P.,  533 

Betts,  George  F.,  533 

Bevan,  Rev.  Llewelyn  D.,  D.D.,  call 
of,  357;  London  ministry  of,  357- 
359,  362;  personality  of,  359;  ex- 
pectationB  of,  359-362;  pastoral 
letters  of,  363-372;  resignation 
of,  373  /.;  see  also  499,  502,  516 

Bevan,  Mrs.  Llewelyn  D.,  369 

Bible  classes,  173,  227,  453.  See 
also  Sunday-schools 

Bible  Society,  The  American,  240 

Bible  Society,  The  New  York,  240 

Bibliography,  497-510 

Billings,  Frederick,  375,  iwte,  378, 
note,  523(2) 

Bills,  Mrs.  James  F.,  395,  note 

Bingham,  John,  111  /.,  197,  517, 
522,  also  opposite  122 

Black,  William,  201,  351,  note,  523 

Black,  William  D.,  300,  note 

Blake,  Marshall,  418 

Blakeman,  Caldwell  R.,  375,  note, 
521 

Blakeman,  Mrs.  Caldwell  R.,  330, 
note,  395,  note 

Blakeman,  William  N.,  518,  521 

Bleecker,  F.  Matilda,  533 

Bliss,  Ira,  271,  518,  520,  523,  526 

Bohemian  Church,  425,  note 

Bokee,  Abraham,  197,  520 

Bonnett,  Miss,  330,  note 

Bonnett,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Bonnett,  Daniel,  538 

Bonnett,  Mrs.  P.,  537 

Bonnett,  Peter,  112,  522(2),  624 

Bonnett,  William  H.,  537 

Bonney,  George  B.,  531 

Booth,  Dr.,  71 

Booth,  Rev.  Henry  M.,  D.D.,  387, 
note 

Bostwick,  Rev.  David,  10 

Bowen,  Prentice,  69 

Branch  Sunday-school,  see  Christ 
Church  Sunday-school 

Brewster,  Henry,  223,  note 

Brick  Church,  cause  of  its  founda- 
tion, 16;  site  for  first  building,  17 
-23;  money  for  building,  23-25; 
building  erected,  25-27,  54;  ori- 
gin of  present  name,  26  /. ;  rela- 
tion o^  to  Wall  Street  Church, 
30  /. ;  character  of  the  congrega- 
tion of,  31  /.;  its  building  dedica- 
ted, 33  /.  55;  forms  of  activity  of, 
before  1774,  33-42;  relation  to 
Revolutionary  War,  42-76;  its 
building  restored,  73,  76;  the  re- 


stored interior,  76-78;  activities 
of,  1783-1808,  81-94;  separated 
from  Wall  Street  Church,  103- 
111;  its  first  officers,  111-113; 
difficulties  in  securing  a  pastor, 
117-120;  builds  lecture-room  and 
chapel,  137-140;  its  use  of 
churchyard  and  cemetery,  141- 
143;  attitude  of,  toward  New 
School  schism,  168  /.;  services  and 
meetings  of,  171-183;  music  of, 
177-183;  schools  of,  1810-1850, 
203-230;  missionary  and  benev- 
olent work  of,  231-250;  north- 
ward drift  of  members  of,  251- 
255;  negotiations  of,  for  sale  of 
Beekman  Street  property,  254- 
269;  critical  condition  of,  257- 
259;  strength  of,  nevertheless, 
269  /.;  looks  for  uptown  site,  279- 
281;  acquires  present  site,  281; 
erects  present  edifice,  284-289; 
adjusts  rights  of  pewholders,  290; 
dedicates  its  new  edifice,  291/.; 
calls  Dr.  Hoge,  296;  prosperous 
condition  of,  99  /.;  attitude  of, 
during  Civil  War,  301-309;  calls 
Dr.  Shedd,  309;  calls  Dr.  Mur- 
ray, 315;  improvement  in  music 
of,  320-323;  publishes  a  hymn- 
book,  323-326;  changes  in  ser- 
vices of,  326-328;  organization 
of  women's  work  of,  328-333; 
enlarged  benevolences  of,  334- 
337;  members  of,  start  a  mission 
Sunday-school,  339-343;  adopts 
this  school,  344-346;  builds  mis- 
sion chapel,  346-348;  buys  a  par- 
sonage, 356;  calls  Mr.  Bevan; 
conditions  of,  in  1878,  363-368; 
in  1879,  369-372;  calls  Mr.  van 
Dyke,  376;  condition  of,  in  1883, 

377  /.,  384;    revision  of  roll  of, 

378  /.;  increased  attractiveness 
of,  379  /. ;  interior  of  building  of, 
redecorated,  380-383;  rejuvena- 
tion of,  384;  devotion  of,  to  Dr. 
van  Dyke,  385-388;  evangelistic 
campaign  of,  388;  debt  of, 
raised,  388  /. ;  interest  in  services 
of,  389-392;  organized  work  of, 
392-398;  mission  of,  organized  as 
a  church,  398-402;  need  of  endow- 
ment for,  402-404,  430;  union  of 
Church  of  Covenant  with,  pro- 
posed, 404, 429  /.,  432-434;  agree- 
ment of,  with  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant,   434-437;     completes   the 


INDEX 


555 


union,  437-439;  endowment  of, 
secured,  438;  dual  pastorate  of, 
439;  accepts  Dr.  Mcllvaine's  res- 
ignation, 440-444;  relation  of,  to 
new  Church  of  the  Covenant,  444 
/. ;  anxieties  of,  regarding  Christ 
Church,  448;  solves  that  prob- 
lem, 449;  prosperity  of,  452  /.; 
debt  of,  to  Dr.  van  Dyke,  453  /.; 
calls  Dr.  Babcock,  455;  its  prog- 
ress under  his  leadership,  460, 463, 
465,  467;  accepts  the  help  of  Dr. 
van  Dyke,  473;  calls  Dr.  Richards, 
475-477;  prospers  and  enlarges 
its  work,  479-483;  erects  Christ 
Church  Memorial  Buildings,  485- 
488;  further  endowment  of,  by 
Mr.  Jesup's  legacy,  488  /.;  sum- 
mary of  entire  history  of,  489-493 

Brick  Church  (Beekman  Street  edi- 
fice), erected,  25-27,  54;  corner- 
stone of,  25;  dedication  of,  33  /., 
55;  use  of,  during  Revolution, 
69-72;  restoration  of,  73,  76;  re- 
stored interior  of,  76-78;  fence 
of,  112;  interior  of,  1810-1850, 
132-134;  neighborhood  of,  135; 
exterior  of,  135-137;  addition  to, 
of  lecture-room  and  chapel,  137- 
140;  rumors  of  removal  of,  254; 
negotiations  for  sale  of,  254-268; 
sale  of ,  268 /. ;  last  service  in,  271 
-276 

Brick  Church  (Murray  Hill  edifice), 
neighborhood  of,  279,  283  /. ;  plans 
for,  284  /.;  exterior  of,  285  /.;  in- 
terior of,  286-289;  dedication  of, 
291  /.,  294;  last  Old  School  As- 
sembly held  in,  317;  organ  gal- 
lery of,  enlarged,  322  /.;  interior 
of,  redecorated,  380-383;  subse- 
quent changes  in,  383  /.,  note; 
lecture-room  of,  remodelled,  391 
/. ;  entire  chapel  remodelled,  487, 
note 

Brick  Church  Mission,  336,  note, 
338-351,  363,  note,  364,  370,  372 
/.,  378,  392,  393-396,  397,  398- 
401,  535.  See  also  Christ  Church, 
Christ  Church  Sunday-school, 
Christ  Church  House,  and  Mis- 
sion Sunday-schools. 

Brick  Church  Mission  Chapel,  346- 
348 

Briggs,  Rev.  Charles  A.,  D.D.,  417 

Bristow,  Benjamin  H.,  523 

Bronson,  Judge,  265 

Bronson,  Anna  E.,  533 


Broome,  John,  57,  note,  59,  note  68 

Broome,  Samuel,  59,  note,  69,  note 

Brown,  Mrs.,  330,  Twte 

Brown,  Rev.  Francis,  D.D.,  417 

Brown,  John,  opposite  262 

Brown,  Rev.  John,  117 

Brown,  Samuel,  197,  620 

Buchan,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Buchanan,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Buchanan,  Ronald  M.,  375,  note 

Buck,  Dr.  Albert,  417 

Buck,  Amelia  H.,  533 

Buck,  Dr.  Gurdon,  417,  630,  633 

Buck,  Henrietta  E.,  533 

Buck,  Susan  M.,  533 

Bulkley,  Horace  W.,  197,  517,  519 

Bulkley,  Rev.  J.  M.,  D.D.,  388,  note 

Bulkley,  Dr.  Lucius  Duncan,  521, 

527 
Bulkley,  Mrs.  Lucius  Duncan,  395, 

note 
Bull,  Henry  K.,  223,  note 
Burger,  Mary,  533 
Burger,  Sarah  Augusta,  633 
Burger,  Sophia,  533 
Burnham,  Frederick  G.,  630,  532, 

533 
Burr,  Mrs.,  330,  note 
Bushnell,  R.  G.,  531 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  407  /.,  426, 

436,  note,  530,  532,  533 
Butler,  Charles,  417,  632  and  note, 

533 
Butler,  Eliza  A.,  633(2) 
Butler,  Eliza  Ogden,  533 
Butler,  Ellen  G.,  533 
Butler,  Emily  Ogden,  633 
Butler,  Lydia  Allen,  533 
Butler,  Mary  R.,  533 
Butler,  Henry  M.,  518 
Butler,  William  Allen,  533 

C 

Cady,  J.  Cleveland,  409,  note,  410, 
411  and  note,  412  and  note,  414 
and  note,  417,  435,  438,  note,  499, 
518,  530,  531,  533 

Campbell,  Adam,  518,  521 

Campbell,  David,  69,  note 

Campbell,  John,  375,  note 

Cannon,  Mary  B.,  533 

Carrington,  J.  H.,  532 

Casper,  Sarah,  272,  note 

Catechism,  38,  173,  221,  227,  542 

Cedar  Street  Church,  106  /. 

Cemeteries  of  Brick  Church,  19,  22- 
24,  108,  113,  141-143,  262 


556 


INDEX 


Chamberlain,  Rev.  L.  T.,  D.D.,  388, 
note 

Chapel,  The  (Beekman  Street),  138- 
140,  215 

Chapel,  The  (Murray  Hill),  284,  290, 
note 

Charity  School,  88-91,  108,  113, 
203-211 

Charity  Sermon,  41 

Cheeseborough,  R.,  538 

Chidlar,  Mr.,  229 

Children  of  the  Brick  Church,  353  /., 
364  /.,  366,  394,  395.  See  also 
Sunday-schools  and  Children's 
Society 

Children's  Society,  The,  333,  354, 
note,  364,  366  /.,  394 

Choate,  William  G.,  417 

Chorister,  77  /.,  178  /.,  321 

Christ  Church  (cf.  341,  345-349, 
373), 398-402,  448-452,  466,  485- 
488,  492,  535 

Christ  Church  House  (cf.  345,  349  /., 
393,  396,  450  /.),  451  /.,  465,  484, 
492.  See  also  Christ  Church  Me- 
morial Buildings 

Christ  Church  Memorial  Buildings 
(cf.  465),  471,  485-488,  548- 
550 

Christ  Church  Sunday-school,  399, 
400,  note,  401,  note,  403,  note,  449 
/.,  484,  487.  See  also  Brick 
Church  Mission 

Christnxias  service,  348,  3fi90,  note 

Chronology,  513-515 

Church,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Church,  Samuel  A.,  518,  620 

Church  of  the  Covenant.  See  Cove- 
nant, Church  of 

Clark,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Clark,  John  Q.,  375,  note 

Cochran,  Samuel,  341  /. 

Cochran,  Thomas,  341  /. 

Coffin,  William  S.,  484,  note 

Cole,  Mr.,  183 

Collections,  78,  231-239.  See  also 
Benevolences,  Finances 

Collegiate  system,  The,  30  /., 
103  if- 

Comes,  Mr.,  178  /. 

Communion.  See  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per 

Comstock,  George  W.,  351,  note,  376, 
note,  621 

Comstock,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Concert  of  prayer  for  missions,  173 

Cornbury,  Lord,  Governor  of  New 
York,  3,  6-8 


Cornell,  George  J.,  638 

Cornell,  Robert  C,  622(3) 

Corning,  Mrs.,  330,  note,  395,  note 

Corning,  Hanson  K.,  523 

Corning,  Jane  B.,  533 

Corning,  Jasper,  200,  252,  617 

Corwith,  Henry  N.,  436,  621, 
531 

Couch,  WiUiam,  201,  252,  517,  520, 
522,  524,  525,  526,  537,  547 

Covenant,  The  (old)  Church  of  the, 
317,  404;  origin  of,  405-407;  or- 
ganization of,  407;  name  of, 
chosen,  407  /.;  building  erected, 
408  /. ;  character  of,  409  /.,  416  /. ; 
starts  a  mission  Sunday-school, 
410-413;  builds  Memorial  Chap- 
el, 414  /.;  calls  Dr.  Vincent,  416; 
members  of,  417  /.;  encourages 
independence  of  the  chapel,  418- 
420;  calls  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  420; 
makes  chapel  pastor  his  associate, 
420-423;  work  and  worship  of, 
424-426;  difficulties  of,  426-429; 
union  of,  to  Brick  Church,  pro- 
posed, 429  /.,  432-437;  generous 
spirit  of,  in  adopting  this  plan, 
430  /.;  union  of,  with  Brick 
Church,  accomplished,  437;  prop- 
erty of,  sold,  437;  members  of, 
happy  and  loyal  as  members  of 
Brick  Church,  438,  441-443.  See 
also  529-534 

Covenant,  The  (present)  Church  of 
the  (cf.  419  /.,  423),  433  /.,  436, 
notes,  437,  438,  note,  444-448, 
466,  483  /.,  492,  536.  See  also 
Covenant  Chapel 

Covenant  Chapel,  410-415  416, 
418-424,  433  /.,  536 

Cowdrey,  Miss,  229 

Cox,  Mr.,  243 

Crosby,  Henry  A.,  411,  note,  631 

Crosby,  Rev.  Howard,  D.D.,  377, 
note 

Crosby,  John  P.,  417,  530 

Culyer,  Charles  R.,  528 

Cummings,  A.  P.,  538 

Cummings,  Rev.  Alexander,  9 

Cunningham,  Richard,  112(2),  197, 
517,  520,  522,  also  opposite  122 

Curtis,  Edwin,  533 

Curtis,  Mary,  533 

Curtis,  Phebe  Eliza,  533 

Curtis,  Rebecca,  533 

Curtis,  William  O.,  411,  note,  436, 
521,  531,  533 

Cutler,  Manasseh,  76-80,  96 


INDEX 


557 


D 


Dale,  Thomas  N.,  532 
Darrach,  James,  302,  518 
Dart,  Russell,  537 
Dartmouth,  Lord,  29 
Davenport,  J.  S.,  537 
Davenport,  Thomas,  527,  537 
Davis,     Edward    W.,     375,     note, 

521 
Davis,  Edward  W.,  521 
Davis,  John  G.,  375,  7iote 
Davison,  John  R.,  520,  538 
de  Forest,  Alfred,  197,  252,  517 
de  Forest,  Benjamin,  522,  525 
de  Forest,  George  B.,  408 
de  Forest,  Lockwood,  522,  526 
de  Forest,  Margaret,  533 
de  Forest,  William  H.,  537 
de  Gourley,  Madame,  200 
Deacons  of  the  Brick  Church,  112, 

331,  note,  392  /.,  520  /. 
Debt-raising,  146,  369,  388  /. 
Delevan,  E.  C.,  538 
Denny,  Thomas,  418,  530 
Dering,  Nichol  H.,  252,  note,  520 
Dey,  Anthony,  199 
Discipline,  39  /.,  190-196 
Dodge,  Arthur  M.,  436,  523,  532 
Dodge,  Norman  N!,  532 
Dodge,  Stephen,  171  /. 
Dodge,     Wilham     E.,     408,     418, 

530 
Dodworth's  studio  building,  407 
Domestic     Missions,     Presbyterian 

Board  of,  237,  248  /. 
Donaghe,  Antoinette,  533 
Donaghe,  James,  533 
Donaghe,  W.  R.,  533 
Donaldson,  Miss,  330,  note 
Donnell,  J.  F.,  223,  note 
Dorcas  Society,  The,  329  /.,  332 
Douglass,  George,  200,  517,  522 
Downer,  Mrs.,  330,  note 
Downer,  Eliza,  538 
Downer,   Frederick  W.,   351,  note, 

375,  note,  523,  525,  526(2) 
Downing,  G.  R.,  538 
Drake,  Jacob,  522 
Dunlap,  John,  20,  note 
Dunmore,  Lord,  Governor  of  New 

York,  44 
Dunning,  Mrs.,  330,  note 
Dunning,  Benjamin  F.,  351,  note, 

375,  note,  518 
Dunning,  Wilham  F.,  521 
Dutch  Church,   Reformed  Protest- 
ant, of  New  York,  18 


E 


Easter  service,  390,  note 
Eastman,  John  C,  411,  note 
Eastman,  Rev.  O.,  D.D.,  417 
Education,  Presbyterian  Board  of, 

237 
Egbert,  Benjamin,  111  /.,  517,  522, 

524,  also  opposite  122 
Egleston,  Thomas,  x.,  200,  302,  517, 

523,  526,  537 
Eidlitz,  Leopold,  285 
Eldersof  Brick  Church.  See  Session 
Eldridge,  Thomas  P.,  523 
EUiot,  Andrew,  66,  note,  71 
Ellsworth,  Erastus,  517,  520,  527 
Ely,  Abner  L.,  200,  223,  note,  252, 

302,  351,  ■note,  499,  517,  519,  523, 

525,  527(2),  537 

Ely,  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles,  156 
Ely,  Nathan  C,  375,  note 
Ely,  Seabury,  203,  206 
Emerson,  Mr.,  323,  note 
Employment    Society,    The,    329- 

332,  364,  393,  510 
Endowment,  273,  402-404,  437  /., 

489 
Eno,  Amos  R.,  280  /. 
Epidemics,  91-94,  164  /. 
Ewing,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  77,  79 


Fairchild,  J.  M.,  530 

Farr,  Rev.  James  M.,  becomes  Dr. 
van  Dyke's  assistant,  451;  organ- 
izes Boys'  Club  at  Christ  Church, 
451;  becomes  pastor  of  Christ 
Church,  466;  pamphlets  by,  503; 
see  also  516,  535 

Faxon,  William,  351,  note,  518 

Ferris,  Richard  Montgomery,  288, 
7wte 

Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
339,  note 

Fillmore,  President  Millard,  292, 
note 

Finances  of  the  church,  87  /.  143- 
147,  257  /. 

Fisher,  Abijah,  199,  517,  522 

Fisk,  Harvey,  418,  532 

Fleet,  Oliver  S.,  532 

Florio,  Carl,  389,  note 

Foreign  Missions,  Presbyterian 
Board  of,  249  /. 

Forrester,  James,  113 

Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  33 


558 


INDEX 


Frazer,  William,  111,  517,  also  op- 
posite 122 
Frazier,  William,  69,  note 
Fulton,  S.,  538 
Funeral  customs,  78  /.,  113 


G 


General  Assembly,   pastoral  letter 

of,  1775,  61-64 
George  III,  29 
Gibson,  Arc.her,  482  /. 
Gilbert,  John  A.,  375,  note 
Gilman,  Mrs.,  330,  7iote 
Gilman,  Arthur,  300,  note 
Gilman,  J'heodore,  521 
Gilman,  William  S.,  323 
Gilman,  Winthrop  S.,  351,  note,  397, 

note,  518,  523 
Girard,  A.,  538 
Glover,  John  G.,  opposite  262 
Goddard,  Calvin,  418 
Gold,  Cornelius  B.,  523 
Goodwin,  Caroline,  199 
Goodwin,  Eli,  199,  522,  538 
Gordon,  Miss,  323,  note 
Gordon,  Robert,  418,  436,  note,  532 
Gordon,  William,  69,  note 
Gould,  Miss,  183 
Graham,  Mrs.,  212 
Graham,  Thomas,  69,  note 
Grant,  Thomas,  opposite  262 
Greacen,  Thomas  E.,  518 
Greenleaf,  Thomas,  530 
Griffen,  Edward  Pay  son,  426,  531, 

532,  533 
Griffen,  Hermon,  530,  533 
Griffen,  Louisa  G.,  533 
Griffiths,  Margaret,  333,  395 
Griswold,  Mr.,  351,  note 


H 


Hall,  Rev.  Charles  Cuthbert,  D.D., 

4  ^  S   Tiots 
Hall,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  357,  377,  note 
Hall,  W.  A.,  532 
Hallett,  Joseph,  20,  note,  57,  note, 

69,  Tiote 
Halsey,  Catherine,  227 
Halsey,  John  C,  197,  252,  517,  520, 

522,  525,  526,  537 
Hanford,  Levi,  70 
Harding,  Richard,  197,  520 
Harmer,  The  Misses,  395,  note 
Harmer,  Charles  G.,  375,  note,  378, 

note,  518 
Harpur,  Robert,  69,  note 


Hart,  Eh,  538 

Hatfield,  Eliza  W.,  342,  451 

Hatfield,  Jacob  B.  T.,  521 

Hatfield,  Susan  M.,  342 

Havens,  Gabriel,  522 

Havens,  Rensselaer,  197,  252,  517, 

522(2),  524,  525 
Hawes,  Peter,  197,  517,  538 
Hawkins,  Joseph,  69,  note 
Hayes,  Dr.  Wilham  V.  V.,  483,  518. 

527 
Hazard,  Mr.,  80 
Hazard,  Ebenezer,  68  /. 
Henry,  Mrs.  Douglas,  411,  note 
Hidden,  T.  B.,  531 
Hitchings,  Hector  M.,  518 
Hobart,  B.  K.,  538 
Hodgson,  Nathaniel  H.,  528 
Hoe,  Robert,  Jr.,  532 
Hoge,  Rev.  Wilham  J.,  D.D.,  296- 

306,  308,  note,  329,  499,  503,  516 
Holbrook,  Mr.,  179 
Holbrook,  Mrs.,  330,  note 
Holden,  Daniel  J.,  x,  372,  375,  note, 

449  /.,  518,  519,  521,523,  526 
Holden,  Mrs.  Daniel  J.,  330,  note, 

395  note 
Holden,  Horace,  x,  171  /.,  185,  196, 

200,  252,  271,  284,  499,  517,  519, 

523,  527(2),  537,  547 
Holland,  Josiah  G.,  523 
Holmes,  Silas,  252,  517 
Home  of  the  Friendless,  406,  426 
Hope  Chapel,  258  /.,  291,  293 
Hopkinsianism.     See  New  England 

Theology 
Hoppin,  Gerard  Beekman,  436,  521, 

531 
Hoppin,  William  Warner,  417,  435, 

518,  530,  531 
Hoppock,  Moses  A.,  537 
Hosack,  Alexander,  opposite  262 
Houghton,  Miss,  330,  note,  333,  note 
How,  Fisher,  517 
Hull,  James  S.,*351,  note,  528 
Hunter,     Brigadier,     Governor    of 

New  York,  8 
Hutchins,  Mr.,  112,  520 
Hutchinson,  Richard  J.,  523,  538 
Hymn  books,  180  /.,  323-326 


I 


Inglis,  William,  69,  note 
Inquiry  meeting,  The,  173  /. 
Irving,  Washington,  98,  403,  note 
Irving,  William,  98,  note,  403,  note, 
opposite  262 


INDEX 


559 


Ishara,  William  B.,  375,  note,  523, 

524 
Isham,  William  B.,  Jr.,  449,  521 


Jackson,  Thomas,  20,  note,  69,  note 

Jackson,  William,  6 

Jauncey,  James,  66,  note 

Jennings,  Oliver  B.,  532 

Jesup,  Morris  K.,  489 

Jewett,  Hugh  J.,  417 

Johnson,  Samuel,  183 

Jones,  Mrs.  Samuel  B.,  ix 

Joscelyn,  Mr.,  351,  note 

Judd,  David  W.,  533 

Judson,  P.,  538 

Juppe,  Anna  M.,  448,  note 


K 


Keeler,  John,  531 

Kellogg,  Miss,  323,  note 

Kernochan,  Joseph,  538 

Ketcham,  E.  R.  van  A.,  533 

Ketcham,  Enoch,  408,  418,  532,  533 

Kimball,  Alfred  R.,  532 

Kimball,  Dr.  Charles  Otis,  411,  note, 
412,  7iote,  436,  518,  521,  530,  531 

Kimball,  Horace,  533 

Kimball,  Horace  E.,  533 

Kimball,  Rev.  John,  341,  345,  535 

Kimball,  Mary  D.,  533 

Kindergarten.  See  Murray  Kinder- 
garten 

King,  John,  69,  note 

Kingsley,  EzraM.,  375,  note,  518, 527, 

Kinnie,  Margaret  E.,  450 

Kip,  Isaac,  201 

Knapp,  Gideon  Lee,  538 

Knapp,  Shepherd,  201,  252,  280, 
284,  351,  note,  517,  519,  522,  523, 
524,  526,  538 

Knapp,  Shepherd,  375,  note,  523, 
525 

Knapp,  Mrs.  Shepherd,  277,  note 

Knapp,  Rev.  Shepherd,  474,  note, 
516 

Knox,  Louise,  395,  note 


La  Farge,  John,  381-383 

Laight,  Maria,  200 

Lamb,  James,  69,  note 

Lampe,  Rev.  Joseph  J.,  D.D.,  349, 

373,  398-401,  448,  503,  535 
Lasher,  John,  59,  note,  60,  64  /.,  08 


Lashor,  John,  Jr.,  20,  note 
Lathrop,  Mrs.  Thomas  P.,  199,  note 

330 
Lay,  Oliver,  417 
Laymen  of  Brick  Church,  36  /.,  46- 

69,    190-202,    215-217,    243    /., 

300  /.,  351,  note,  367,  375,  note, 

378,  note,  393,  397  /.,  467 
Lecture,  The  Weekly,  38,  85,  172, 

258  /.,  327 
Lecture  Room,  The  Old  White,  137 

/.,  171  /. 
Ledoux,  Dr.  Albert  R.,  388,  392, 

note,  397,  note,  443,  note,  518,  527 
Ledoux,  Mrs.  Albert  R.,  395,  note 
Leeds,  Catharine  G.,  533 
Leeds,  Mary  Eliza,  533 
Leonard,  Charles  H.,  408,  532,  533 
Leonard,  Elizabeth,  533 
Leslie,  James,  90 
Lewis,  Charlton  T.,  417 
Litchfield,  Mr.,  49,  note 
Livingston,  Peter  R.,  20,  note,  58,  68 
Livingston,  Peter  van  Brugh,  20, 

note,  57,  note,  59,  note,  68  /. 
Livingston,  William,  48-51 
Lockwood,  Elizabeth  R.,  533 
Lockwood,  Julia  G.,  533 
Lockwood,  Louisa  M.,  533 
Lockwood,  Roe,  533 
Lockwood,     Stephen,     197,     517, 

522(2),  526 
Lord,  Miss,  330,  note 
Lord,   Daniel,   47,   note,   197,   201, 

302,  323,  344,  499,  517,  527,  537 
Lord,  Daniel,  417 
Lord,  Daniel  D.,  533 
Lord,  George  de  Forest,  300,  note, 

338,   note,   351,   note,   375,   note, 

378,  note,  518,  520,  523 
Lord,  Mary  H.,  533 
Lord's  Supper,  The,  37  /.,  109,  note, 

176,  192,  291,  note,  327,  345  /., 

419,  543  /. 
Lovell,  L.  N.,  426,  530,  531 
Lovett,  James,  522 
Ludlam,  John  L.,  523,  525 
Ludlow,  Gabriel,  89 
Luyster,  William,  197,  520 

M 

Magee,  Daniel  H.,  538 
Makemie,  Rev.  Francis,  3,  6-8 
Mariing,  Alfred  E.,  426,  435,  483, 

518,  527,  530 
Marsh,  Samuel,  201,  271,  538 
Martin,  The  Misses,  395,  note 


560 


INDEX 


Mason,  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.,  129,  156, 
177 

Matlock,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  opposite 
262 

McAlpin,  Charles  W.,  436,  521,  531 

McAlpin,  D.  H.,  451,  532 

McAlpin,  D.  H.,  Jr.,  523,  532 

McAlpin,  David,  418 

McAlpin,  Joseph  R.,  532 

McAlpin,  Randolph,  452,  487 

McCall,  James,  201,  517,  522,  523 

McClellan,  Mrs.,  411,  note 

McClelland,  Hon.  Robert,  266 

McCoUick,  Catherine,  538 

McComb,  John,  197,  252,  520,  522, 
538,  also  opposite  132,  262 

McCormick,  Stephen,  137 

McCosh,  Pres.  James,  D.D.,  388, 
note 

McCulloh,  Richard  S.,  518 

McCurdy,  Gertrude  M.,  533 

McCurdy,  Robert  H.,  418,  533 

McCurdy,  Robert  Wolcott,  533 

McCurdy,  Sarah  Lord,  533 

McDougal,  Alexander,  52  /.,  55-57, 
59,  64,  67  /. 

McDougal,  John,  69,  note 

McDowell,  Rev.  John,  118 

McElwain,  Maria,  538 

McEwen,  Rev.  Henry  T.,  420,  536 

Mcllvaine,  Rev.  James  Hall,  D.D., 
called  to  Church  of  the  Covenant, 
420;  proposes  that  chapel  pastor 
become  his  associate,  420  /. ;  com- 
ments on  the  result,  422  /.;  de- 
scribes activities  of  the  church, 
424-426;  indicates  adverse  con- 
ditions, 429;  preaches  last  sermon 
in  the  church,  430  /. ;  becomes  co- 
pastor  in  Brick  Church,  435,  439; 
pronounces  union  a  success,  438; 
resignation  of,  440-444;  subse- 
quent letter  from,  446  /.  See  also 
503,  516,  529 

Mcintosh,  Rev.  James  S.,  D.D.,  388, 
note 

McKay,  C.  S.,  531 

McKinley,  Nathaniel,  20,  note 

McKnight,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  82-85, 
88,  104,  107,  109-111,  503,  516 

McLane,  Guy  Richards,  521 

McLane,  Dr.  James  W.,  417 

McLean,  Mrs.  Alexander,  333,  note, 
342,395,  7wte 

McLeland,  Rev.  Alexander,  242 

McMahon,  Fulton,  449  /. 

McNeel,  Mrs.  Maria  Brower,  384, 
note 


McNish,  Rev.  George,  8 

Mead,  Edward  S.,  418 

Mead,  Elijah,  197,  252,  520 

Memorial  Chapel,  414  /.  See  also 
Covenant  Mission 

Men  of  Brick  Church.  See  Lay- 
men 

Men's  Association,  The,  467,  469 

Mercer  Street  Church,  405  /. 

Merrill,  Charles  E.,  523,  532 

Merritt,  Frances,  533 

Merry,  Calvin  H.,  538 

Michael,  John,  69,  note 

Miles,  Edward  C.,  411,  note 

Miles,  Isabel  N.,  411,  note 

Millard,  Mr.,  323,  no/e 

Milledoler,  Dr.  Philip,  85,  123 

Miller,  Charles  A.,  523,  525 

Miller,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  call  of, 
83;  personality  of ,  83 ;  preaching 
of,  83  /.;  salary  of,  88;  on  public 
schools,  88,  note;  on  the  plague  of 
1798,  91-94;  favors  discontinua- 
ance  of  collegiate  system,  104  /., 
107;  becomes  pastor  of  Wall 
Street  Church,  109  /.;  describes 
effects  of  separation.  111,  note; 
defends  Gardiner  Spring,  123;  on 
the  duties  of  elders,  189.  See 
also  500,  504,  516 

Miller,  William,  112,  520,  also  oppo- 
site 122 

Mills,  Mrs.,  538 

Mills,  Charles,  537 

Mills,  Drake,  199,  523(2),  537 

Mills,  James  W.,  538 

Mills,  John,  112(2),  121,  197,  517, 
522,  also  opposite  122 

Mills,  Rev.  Samuel  J.,  245-247 

Mills,  Zophar,  532 

Ministers  of  the  Brick  Church,  37, 
516 

Mission  Sunday-schools,  226,  291, 
299,  note.  See  also  Brick  Church 
Mission,  Covenant  Chapel,  and 
Christ  Church 

Missionary  Societies,  Relation  of 
Brick  Church  to,  235-250 

Missions,  Brick  Church  and,  173, 
228-250,  334,  391,  note,  393.  See 
also  Benevolences 

Moore,  Sir  Henry,  Governor  of  New 
York,  28  /. 

Moore,  W.  D.,  531 

Moore,  William  H.  H.,  418,  426, 
435,  518,  530 

Morgan,  Gov.  E.  D.,  351,  note,  356, 
369,  375  and  note,  376,  377,  378, 


INDEX 


561 


note,  380  /.,  384,  note,  500,  523, 

524 
Morgan,  Mrs.  E.  D.,  330,  note 
Morgan,  Dr.  E.  D.,  Jr.,  350,  384, 

note 
Morrell,  Lucretia,  537 
Morris,  Gouverneur,  60 
Murphy,  E.  D.,  521 
Murray,  Rev.  James  0.,D.D.,  called, 

315;  early  life  of,  319  /.;  interest 

of,  in  music  of  the  church,  321- 

323;      aids     in     preparation     of 

hymn-book,  323-326;  relation  of, 

to   Brick   Church   Mission,    338; 

resignation  of,  351-355.    See  also 

500,  505,  516 
Murray,  Mrs.  James  O.,  330,  note, 

333,  note,  354,  note 
Murray,   John   R.,    112,   522,   526, 

also  opposite  122 
Murray,  Mary,  537 
Murray  Hill  site,  280-284 
Murray    Kindergarten,    The,    354, 

note,  393,  396 
Music  of  the  Brick  Church,  77  /., 

177-183,    284   /.,    288,    321-326, 

380,  389,  482  /. 


N 


Naylor,  Peter,  403,  note,  517,  520, 

523,  537 
Nesbit,  Robert,  69,  note 
New  Church.    See  Brick  Church 
New  England  Theology,  The,  156- 

158 
New  Haven  Theology,  160,  249 
New   School   schism,    168   /.,    249. 

See    also    Reunion  of  New  and 

Old  Schools 
New  York  in  1717,  7;   in  1766,  20- 

22;    in  1850,  251;    in  1855,  277- 

279;    in  1873,  427  /.;    in  1876, 

360/.;  in  1908,  490 
Nicoll,  Dr.  John,  28 
Niles,  Dr.  Walter  L.,  488,  note 
Nixon,  John  M.,  284,  351,  note,  523, 

526 
Noel,  Garret,  20,  note 
North,  John,  69,  note 
Norton,  Charles  L.,  418 
Noyes,  Emily  C,  533 
Noyes,  Dr.  Henry  D.,  417,  435,  442 

/.,  518,  530,  532 
Noyes,  Julia  F.,  533 
Noyes,   William  Curtis,   436,   7iote, 

533 


O 


Oakley,  Daniel,  197,  252,  520,  638 

Oakley,  E.  B.,  532 

O 'Conner,  Charles,  265 

Odell,  Hamilton,  ix,  375,  note,  388, 
518,  519(2),  527(2) 

Odell,  Mrs.  Hamilton,  330,  note,  332 

Ogilvie,  Thomas,  111,  517,  also  op- 
posite 122 

Olivet  Chapel,  425 

Olyphant,  Anna,  395,  note 

Olyphant,  Robert,  523 

Olyphant,  Mrs.  Robert,  395,  note 

Ormiston,  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  357 

Osborn,  William  C,  532 

Osborn,  Wilham  H.,  418 

Osgood,  Samuel,  112(2),  517,  519, 
522,  524,  525,  also  opposite  122 

Owen,  Capt.  Jeremiah,  88 


Parish,  Daniel,  199,  522,  538 
Parish,  Daniel,    Jr.,  ix,    351,    note, 

375,  note,  521,  523 
Parish,  Henry,  523,  526 
Parish,  Susan,  330,  note,  395,  note 
Parish  and  Schroeder,  486,  note 
Parsonage,  69,  80  /.,  98,  356  /. 
Parsons,  Arthur  W.,  Jr.,  521,  527 
Parsons,  Herbert,  450,  484,  note 
Parsons,    John    E.,    338-344,    350, 

351  and  note,  372,  375,  note,  388, 

443,  note,  505,  518,  523,  524 
Parsons,  Mrs.  John  E.,  333,  note 
Parsons,  Joseph,  418 
Parsons,  Joseph  H.,  430,  523,  532 
Pastor's  Aid  Society,  The,  393,  397 

/.,  467 
Paton,  Mr.,  351,  note 
Paton,  Mrs.,  330,  note 
Paton,  Thomas,  520 
Paton,   Thomas  C.   M.,   300,   note, 

341,  518,  523 
Patterson,  Alexander,  69,  note 
Patton,  Catherine,  199 
Patton,  Rev.  F.  L.,  D.D.,  388,  note 
Pemberton,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  9 
Penny  Provident  Fund,  396 
Phelps,  Miss,  330,  note 
Phelps,  Anson  G.,  200,  522,  524 
Phelps,  Isaac  N.,  375,  note,  523 
Phelps,  William  Walter,  417 
Phillips,   Rev.   William  W.,   D.D., 

292,  note 
Pierce,  President  Franklin,  266  /. 
Pierson,  Joseph,  69,  note 


66^ 


INDEX 


Pelton,  Philip,  69,  note 

Pisek,  Rev.  Vincent,  397,  note 

Pond,  S.  P.,  178 

Porterfield,  Miss,  395,  note 

Post,  Dr.  Alfred  C,  417,  533 

Potter,  Ellis,  538 

Prayer  meetings,  38,  85,  172  /.,  187, 
225,  258  /.,  327  /.,  365,  370  /.,  390- 
392,  393,  397,  424,  460,  note 

Prentiss,  Annie  L.,  411,  note 

Prentiss,  Rev.  George  L.,  D.D.,  re- 
lation of,  to  origin  of  Church  of 
the  Covenant,  405-409;  his  prayer 
for  the  church,  410;  his  description 
of  the  mission  school,  413;  called 
to  Union  Seminary,  results  of  his 
pastorate,  415  /.;  continues  to  at- 
tend the  church,  416,  417.  See 
also  505,  529 

Prentiss,  Mrs.  George  L.  (Elizabeth 
P.),  405,  note,  409,  414,  note,  417, 
533 

Preparatory  Service,  The,  174 

Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York 
City,  origin  of,  6  /.;  calls  Mr. 
Anderson,  7;  condition  of,  in 
1717,  8  /.;  worships  in  City  Hall, 
9;  earliest  edifice  of,  9;  calls  Mr. 
Pemberton,  9;  edifice  of,  enlarged, 
9;  calls  Mr.  Cummings,  9;  con- 
troversy in,  on  psalmody,  9;  calls 
Mr.  Bostwick,  10;  calls  Mr.  Treat, 
10;  in  1765,  10  /.;  calls  Mr.  Rod- 
gers,  14/.;  revival  in,  16;  second 
edifice  required  by,  16;  lot  on 
Beekman  Street  secured  by,  17- 
23;  incorporation  of,  27-30, 
103;  collegiate  arrangement  of, 
30/.,  103  ff.;  duties  of  officers  of, 
37-41;  public  life  of  members  of, 
before  and  during  Revolution, 
46-69;  loyalists  in,  66;  buildings 
of,  during  the  War,  69-72,  73,  note, 
repairs  New  Church,  73-76;  gifts 
to,  80  /.;  associate  ministers  of, 
81-85;  activities  of,  1783-1808, 
85-91;  effect  of  plague  on,  91- 
94;  considers  dissolution  of  col- 
legiate arrangement,  103-110;  sep- 
aration of,  accomplished.  111.  See 
also  Brick  Church,  Rutgers  Street 
Church,  Wall  Street  Church 

Presbyterian  churches  in  New  York 
City,  106  /  ,  note 

Princeton  Seminary,  students  of, 
292,  note,  296 

Profession  and  Covenant,  The,  539- 
541 


Psalmody,  9  /. 

Purves,  Rev.  George  T.,  D.D.,  457, 
note 

Q 

Quackenbos,  John,  69 ;  opposite  262 
Quarterly  meeting.  The,  173  /. 
Quick,  A.  J.,  533 


R 


Ray,  Richard,  opposite  262 

Ray,  Samuel,  opposite  262 

Raynolds,  Charles  T.,  532 

Read,  Colin,  403,  note 

Red  Letter  Days,  515 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  417 

Reunion  of  New  and  Old  Schools, 
316-318,  415,  427 

Revision  of  Presbyterian  Confession, 
402 

Revivals,  184-188,  388  /. 

Rhinelander,  Frances  D.,  534 

Richards,  Guy,  202,  271 

Richards,  Rev.  William  R.,  D.D., 
202,  439,  note;  called,  475-477; 
accepts,  477;  early  life  and  min- 
istry of,  477/. ;  preaching  of,  478- 
480;  advocates  the  open  church 
and  a  third  Sunday  service,  480  /. ; 
seeks  to  reach  all  sorts  of  people, 
481  /.;  interest  of,  in  new  build- 
ings for  Christ  Church  work",  485; 
publications  of,  500,  505.  See 
also  516 

Riker,  Peter,  20,  note 

Robbins,  George  S.,  522 

Robbins,  S.,  537 

Roberts,  Mr.,  178 

Roberts,  Mary  M.,  333,  note,  395, 
note 

Robinson  Street  lot.  The,  80  /.,  109 

Robertson,  Governor,  71 

Rodgers,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  early  life 
of,  11-13;  pastorate  of,  at  St. 
George's,  13-15;  called  to  New 
York,  14  /.;  first  year  of,  in  New 
York,  3-5,  15  /.;  petitions  for 
new  site,  20,  note;  raises  money  for 
New  Church,  23-25;  lays  corner- 
stone, 25;  appearance  of,  in  pul- 
pit, 33;  preaching  of,  34,  100  /.; 
leadership  of,  34-36;  degree  of, 
from  Edinburgh,  36;  attitude  of, 
before  and  during  Revolution, 
45  /.,  56,  note,  60  /.,  65-67,  71; 
preaches  Thanksgiving  sermon, 
1783,    74-76,     506;     rededicates 


INDEX 


56S 


New  Church,  76;  in  funeral  cos- 
tume, 79;  urges  benevolence,  86, 
note;  salary  of,  88;  growing  old, 
91,  95,  112;  appearance  of,  95- 
98;  manners  of,  9G  /.;  character 
of,  98  /. ;  character  of  ministry 
of,  99-102;  love  for,  105;^  lays 
corner-stone  of  Rutgers  Street 
Church,  106;  opposed  to  separa- 
tion of  congregations,  108;  mod- 
erator of  first  Brick  Church  ses- 
sion. Ill;  death  of,  149.  See  also 
516 
Rodgers,  Robertson,   36,  iwte,   75, 

Twte 
Rogers,  Charles  H.,  418 
Rogers,  Rev.  Edwin  E.,  420,  536 
Rolla,  Mr.,  182 

Romeyn,  Rev.  John  B.,  D.D.,  123 
Roosa,  Dr.  St.  John,  417,  530 
Ruggles,  Samuel  B.,  268,  7iote 
Rulifson,  Rev.  A.  E.,  345,  535 
Rutgers  Street  Church,  26  /.,  85, 

105/.,  108/.,  Ill 
Ryan,    Mrs.    Catherine,    210,    403, 
note 


Sabbath  observance,  240-242 
"Sacrifice  of  Praise,"  The,  323-326 
Sampson,  Joseph,  199 
Saxton,  John,  538 
Schermerhorn,  Catharine  G.,  534 
Schermerhorn,  Louisa  N.,  534 
Schieffelin,  Henry  H.,  522,  526 
Schiefilin,  Samuel  B.,  201 
Schuyler,  Major-General,  64 
Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  of  New 

York,  10;   106,  TWte,  339,  341 
Scott,  John  Morin,  20,  note,  48-50, 
52  and  note,  53,  55-57,  59  /.,  65, 
67/. 
Scribner,  John  Blair,  417 
Scribner,  Charles*,  417,  418 
Scribner's  Sons,  Charles,  140 
Seaman's  Friend  Society,  The  Amer- 
ican, 240 
Services  of  the  Brick  Church,  30, 
37  /.,   76-80,   85,    171-183,  253, 
258  /.,  326-328,   365,   368,   370, 
387,  7iote,  389-391,  452  /.,  458, 
461,  480-483,  491 
Sears,  Isaac,  52  /. 

Session  of  Brick  Church,  111  /.,  189- 
196,  221-227,  323-326,  399-401, 
448  /.,  509,  517-519 
Seward,  B.  J.,  216,  527(2) 
Seward,  William,  426,  436,  521,  531 


Sewing  school.  The,  345,  349,  393 
and  note,  400,  note,  450 

Se.xton,  136,  note,  528 

Shedd,  Rev.  William  G.  T.,  D.D., 
309  /.,  315,  377,  note,  516 

Shedd,  Mrs.  W.  G.  T.,  330,  note, 
333,  note,  395,  note 

Sheffield,  William  R.,  411,  note,  531 

Sick  Children's  Aid  Society,  The 
(see  also  Children's  Society),  393- 
397,  548 

Sims,  Elizabeth,  534 

Singing  school,  173,  179 

Skidmore,  Joseph  R.,  418,  532 

Skinner,  Frances  L.,  534 

Skinner,  Helen,  534 

Skinner,  Mary  D.,  534 

Skinner,  Rev.  Thomas  H.,  D.D.,  407 

Sloane,  Prof.  William  M.,  397,  note 

Slover,  Isaac,  69,  note 

Smith,  Miss,  330,  note 

Smith,  Benjamin,  69,  note 

Smith,  Elizabeth  L.,  534 

Smith,  Epenetus,  528 

Smith,  Eugene,  436,  523,  526,  532 

Smith,  George,  538 

Smith,  Gilbert,  69,  note 

Smith,  Rev.  Henry  B.,  D.D.,  417 

Smith,  Henry  L.,  467,  518 

Smith,  John,  20,  7iote 

Smith,  John  C,  520 

Smith,  Mallville  M.  W.,  411,  note 

Smith,  Melancthon,  69,  note 

Smith,  Thomas,  20,  note,  59,  note 

Smith,  William,  20,  7wte 

Smith,  William,  the  younger,  20, 
note,  48-52,  58,  71 

Smith,  William  Allen,  411,  note 

Sons  of  Liberty,  Presbyterians 
among  the,  49-55 

Speece,  Rev.  Conrad,  D.D.,  120,  note 

Sperry,  Mr.,  351,  7iote 

Spies,  Henry,  528 

Spofford,  Mr.,  351,  note 

Spofford,  Paul,  280,  284,  523,  537 

SpoiTord,  Mrs.  Paul,  199,  Twte 

Spring,  Rev.  Gardiner,  D.D.,  25, 
7wte;  preaches  inj  New  York, 
120;  is  called,  ordained  and  in- 
stalled, 121-123;  salary  of,  121, 
144,  270;  parentage  and  early 
life  of,  123-130;  studies  and 
methods  of  work  of,  149-151; 
preaching  of,  151-156,  162-164; 
depression  and  ill  health  of,  154  /. ; 
theology  of,  155-158:  liberal 
spirit  of,  158-160;  "Essays"  of, 
161  /.;    journeys  of,  \o  Europe, 


564 


INDEX 


164-167;  service  of,  during  chol- 
era epidemic,  164  /.;  relation  of, 
to  New  School  schism,  168  /.; 
publications  of,  169,  500  /.,  506- 
508;  his  conduct  of  the  Com- 
munion Service,  176;  of  the  Sun- 
day services,  176;  part  of,  in  re- 
vivals, 185-187;  parish  visita- 
tion of,  188;  views  of,  in  regard 
to  amusements,  194  /.;  his  ap- 
proval of  church  discipline,  195  /.; 
preaches  at  Sunday  school  anni- 
versary, 219 ;  addresses  the  school 
220;  becomes  superintendent  of 
Sunday-school,  224;  attempt  of,  at 
Sabbath  reform,  240-242;  devo- 
tion of  church  to,  270;  bust  of, 
288;  preaches  at  dedication  of 
present  building,  292,  294;  re- 
quires assistance,  295  /. ;  vigorous 
old  age  of,  297;  welcome  of,  to 
Dr.  Hoge,  298;  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  pastorate  of,  299;  dis- 
agrees with  Dr.  Hoge,  305;  atti- 
tude of,  toward  the  South  and  the 
War,  306-308;  increasing  infirmi- 
ties of,  309-311,  315  /.;  share  of, 
in  the  reunion,  316-318;  last 
days  and  death  of,  318;  long  life 
and  pastorate  of,  319  and  note. 
See  also  516,  519,  527,  537,  539, 
note,  540,  notes 

Spring,  Mrs.  Gardiner,  128,  299, 
note 

Spring,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  123  /., 
156,  245  /. 

Spring,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  of  East 
Hartford,  292,  note 

Spring,  Mrs.  Samuel,  124 

Spring,  Susan,  199 

Squires,  Walter,  375,  7iote,  527 

St.  Bartholomew's  Parish  House, 
445/. 

St.  George's  Chapel,  74 

St.  Paul's  Chapel,  74 

Stafford,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Starin,  H.  G.,  531 

Starin,  John  K.,  223,  note 

Steadman,  Charles  J.,  223,  note 

Stephens,  John,  197,  520,  also  op- 
posite 262 

Stevens,  Col.,  81 

Stevens,  Delia,  213,  note,  223,  note 

Stevens,  John,  20,  note 

Stewart,  A.,  opposite  262 

Stewart,  Frances  V.,  488,  note 

Stewart,  John  A.,  523 

Stewart,  Mary,  484,  note,  485,  note 


Stewart,  Robert,  69,  note 

Stewart,  Robert,  M.D.,  300,  note, 
520 

Stewart,  William  J.,  322,  note 

Stimson,  Dr.  Lewis,  417 

Stone,  Levi  P.,  518,  520 

Storrs,  Rev.  R.  S.,  D.D.,  388,  note 

Storrs,  S.  J.,  417,  530,  531 

Streeter,  Dr.  Ransel  M.,  417 

Strong,  Theron  G.,  417,  435,  453, 
518,  530,  531 

Sullivan,  Algernon  S.,  527 

Sunday-school  Union,  The  New 
York,  212,  221,  228,  note,  237 

Sunday-schools,  211-230,  252,  259, 
290,  note,  293  /.,  323,  note,  364, 
370,  392,  397,  426,  428,  470,  483, 
510,  527,  545  /.  See  also  Brick 
Church  Mission,  Christ  Church 
Sunday-school,  and  Bible  classes 

Sunday  services.     See  Services 

Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  order 
of,  263  /.,  265 

Sutherland,  Judge,  417 


Tait,  Rev.  Mr.,  345,  note 

Talbot,  Rev.  Howard  A.,  418  /., 
419,  536 

Talmage,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Taylor,  John  S.,  140 

Thomas,  Griffith,  285,  note,  322 

Thomas  and  Son,  T.,  285 

Thompson,  D.,  537 

Thompson,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  89 

Thompson,  John,  111,  517,  also  op- 
posite 122 

Thompson,  Jonathan,  199,  522(2), 
525 

Thompson,  William  R.,  178 

Tillinghast,  Miss,  383 

Todd,  William,  69,  note 

Tokens,  37  /. 

Townsend,  Dr.,  House  of,  279,  283 

Tract  Society,  The  American,  237 

Treat,  Rev.  Joseph,  10,  20,  note, 
56,  note,  60,  81,  516 

Tredwell,  John  P.,  538 

Trinity  Church,  18,  27,  74,  80  /.,  89 

Trustees  of  the  Brick  Church,  112  /., 
145,  203  ff.,  254-269,  510,  522-526 

Tryon,  Governor,  44 

Tucker,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Tucker,  John  C,  378,  note,  403,  note, 
518,  520,  537 

Turner,  Daniel,  69,  note 

Turner,  John,  Jr.,  opposite  262 


INDEX 


565 


Tiirrell,  Ebenezer,  403,  nx)te 
Turwell,  Ebenezer,  403,  note 

U 

Union  Seminary,  students  of,  343, 

403,  note 
United  States  Government,  266  /., 

280 

V 

Van  Desburgh,  Mrs.  G.  E.,  537 
van  Dyke,  Bernard,  384,  note 
van  Dyke,  Henry,  repeats  sermon 
of  Dr.  Rodgers,  74,  note;  proposed 
for  Brick  Church,  375;  early  life 
of,  376;  education  and  first  pas- 
torate of,  377;  installation  of, 
377;  his  description  of  the  church 
in  1883,  377  /.;  abilities  of,  379; 
purpose  of,  379  /. ;  he  secures  re- 
decoration  of  the  church,  380- 
382;  fifteenth  anniversary  of  pas- 
torate of  (1898),  383,  note,  453; 
memorial  of,  to  his  son,  384,  note; 
honorary  degrees  of,  384,  note; 
affection  for,  384,  386,  387  /., 
453;  threatened  departure  of, 
385-388;  his  ideal  of  the  church, 
385  /.;  ill  health  of,  386  /.;  early 
achievements  of,  388  /.;  preach- 
ing of,  389;  influence  of,  on  the 
worship,  389-392;  describes  work 
of  church,  1883-1893,  392-394; 
reorganizes  work  for  sick  children, 
394-397;  forms  Pastor's  Aid  So- 
ciety, 397  /.;  service  of,  outside 
the  church,  402;  appeal  of,  for 
endowment,  403;  offers  resigna- 
tion with  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  440  /.; 
is  not  permitted  to  go,  441-444; 
relation  of,  to  new  Church  of  the 
Covenant,  445,  447  /.;  effects  of 
ministry  of,  452-454;  resignation 
of,  454;  aids  in  finding  successor, 
454;  serves  as  minister-in-charge, 
474-477;  popularity  of,  as  col- 
lege preacher,  478;  ministry  of, 
commemorated  by  the  new  Christ 
Church,  487;  publications  of, 
501,  508  /.  See  also  516(2) 
van  Dyke,  Mrs.  Henry,  395,  note 
van  Dyke,   Rev.   Henry   J.,  D.D., 

376,  377,  iwte 
Van  Gelder,  Abraham,  69,  note,  111, 

517,  also  opposite  122 
Van  Glahn,  Edward  C,  518 
Van  Valzah,  William  W.,  521 


Varnum,  J.  B.,  537 

Vaults.    See  Cemeteries. 

Vergereau,  Peter,  69 

Vernon,  Miss,  330,  note 

Vincent,  Rev.  Marvin,  R.,  D.D., 
called  to  Church  of  the  Covenant, 
416;  church  characterized  by,  416 
/.;  members  recalled  by,  417  /. ; 
preaching  of,  418;  policy  of  chap- 
el described  by,  419  /. ;  resigna- 
tion of,  420.    See  also  509,  529 

Visitation,  parish,  38,  188-190, 
227  /.,  294  /. 

Vose,  Miss,  330,  note 

W 

Waddell,  Coventry,  mansion  of, 
282  / 

Walker^  Dr.  Henry,  417 

Walker,  Stephen,  418 

Wall  Street  Church,  3,  16,  30-32, 
73,  76,  103-111 

Washington,  George,  51,  75 

Watson,  Mrs.,  330,  note 

Watts,  Robert,  375,  note 

Webb,  Orange,  517 

Webster,  Rev.  George  S.,  D.D.,  ix; 
early  life  of,  421,  note;  becomes 
associate  of  Dr.  Mcllvaine  as 
chapel  pastor,  421;  describes  the 
result  of  this  relation,  421  /. ;  de- 
scribes changes  in  the  chapel 
building,  422,  note;  describes  the 
chapel  work,  422  /.,  note;  esteem 
of  Covenant  pastor  and  people 
for,  423;  approves  change  from 
chapel  to  church,  433;  installed 
as  pastor  of  present  Church  of  the 
Covenant,  434;  comments  on  the 
result,  445;  work  of,  for  children, 
483  /.;  publications  of,  502,  509. 
See  also  529,  536 

Weekes,  Nathaniel,  69,  note 

West,  Mr.,  351,  iwte 

West,  John,  538 

Wheeler,  Mrs.  Candace,  417 

Wheeler,  Dora,  417 

Wheelock,  William  H.,  521 

White,  Mr.,  351,  note 

White,  Charles  T.,  300,  note,  530, 
531 

White,  Charles  Trumbull,  418 

White,  John,  59,  note 

White,  Mrs.  Norman,  330,  note,  333, 
note 

Whiteficld,  Rev.  George,  9,  11  /., 
97,  note,  357 


566 


INDEX 


Whitlock,  Andrew,  537 

Whitlock,  Augustus,  523,  525 

Whitlock,  William,  112,  197,  252, 
517 

Whitney,  William  C,  417 

Wiesner,  D.  H.,  530,  531 

Wightman,  Rev.  Richard  R.,  448, 
535 

Willett,  Marinus,  60 

Williams,  William,  Jr.,  517 

Wilmarth,  John,  520,  523 

Wilson,  Mrs.  Abner  A.,  395,  note 

Wilson,  Rev.  James,  82,  96,  101, 
516 

Wilson,  William  H.,  449 

Witherbee,  Silas  H.,  378,  note,  523 

Witherspoon,  Rev.  John,  D.D., 
79/. 

Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 393 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety, The,  393 

Woman's  Prayer  Meeting,  The,  393 

Women  of  Brick  Church,  work  of, 
37,  215,  216  /.,  328-333,  364, 
393-397 

Wood,  OHver  E.,  520 

Woodhead,  J.,  538 

Woodruff,  Albert,  223,  note,  527 

Woods,  Mr.,  226 

Woodworth,  Caroline  R.,  534 

Woodworth,  D.  Austin,  534 

Wool,  Jeremiah,  69 


Woolsey,  Abbey  H.,  534 
Woolsey,  Catharine  Cecil,  534 
Woolsey,  Charles,  411,  note{2) 
Woolsey,  Charles  W.,  534 
Woolsey,  Eliza  J.,  534 
Woolsey,  Georgiana  M.,  534 
Woolsey,  Jane  S.,  534 
Woolsey,  Theodore  B.,  534 
Worship  of  Brick  Church.    See  serv- 
ices. 
Wright,  Grove,  112,  522,  also  op- 
posite 122 


Yale,  Dr.  Leroy  M.,  417 

Yale  College,  described  by  a  New 

York  Tory,  49 
Yates,  Rev.  Andrew,  118     . 
Yewell,  George,  417 
Yonge,  John  G.,  528 
Young  Men,  New  York  Evangelical 

Missionary  Society  of,  243  /. 
Young  Men's  Association,  The,  300 

/.,  367 
Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of 

New  York,  The,  243 
Young  Men's  Society,  The,  368 
Young  People's  Guild,  The,  393,  395 


Z 


Ziesse,  Mary,  395  /.,  485,  Twte 


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